On Thursday 14 December, MEPs meeting up for a plenary session adopted (301 votes for, 249 against, 25 abstentions) the own initiative report drafted by Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Netherlands) advocating low emissions transport.
This paper presents the initiatives and measures possible to ensure that CO2 emissions in the transport field are almost eliminated by 2050, as part of the perspective of respecting the Paris agreement on climate and the European Union’s environmental targets.
This report resembles the first but above all, the second mobility package, presented on the 31 May and 8 November last. In these packages the European Commission provides proposals to make road transport cleaner and responsible for emitting lower levels of CO2 (see EUROPE 11799, EUROPE 11900).
This report tackles all kinds of transport. It calls on the Commission to adopt an “ambitious” action plan to promote electric vehicles and suggests, for example, the introduction of tax incentives. Mr Eickhout also calls for the adoption of a broader approach to renewable energy.
In one paragraph, the report calls on the Commission to propose a regulation on CO2 standards for automobiles marketed as of 2025, in an attempt to eliminate new CO2 emitting cars by 2035. This suggestion was the subject of particular attention but was narrowly rejected (286 votes for, 293 against, 23 abstentions), due to opposition from the EPP and ECR groups.
On the aviation chapter, the report also calls on the Commission to propose measures to impose kerosene and scrap VAT exemptions on tickets, in an effort to create a level playing field between the different kinds of transport. This mention was adopted by the MEPs.
The adoption of the whole text was uncertain, as asserted by Mr Eickhout in a debate preceding the vote. In the transport committee on 12 October last, a majority of EPP MEPs abstained, while the ECR group voted against. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)