As far as one can tell from a public debate held during the Environment Council in Brussels on Monday 5 March, the proposal for a regulation for a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions from new cars and light vans within the EU by 2030, with an intermediary objective of -15% by 2025, is already causing a rift between member states with more prevalent climate ambitions and those concerned by preserving the competitiveness of their motor industry.
Initially, the European Commission proposal was to be simply presented to the EU28 ministers by the commissioner for climate action, Miguel Arias Cañete, and made available to the public (see EUROPE 11900). The text was finally the subject of a round-the-table discussion, but the live broadcast was effective for the last five minutes only “due to a technical problem”, say Council technicians.
Karolina Skog, the minister from Sweden, called for “more ambitious and binding objectives”.
Spain, Romania, Hungary and Italy welcomed the proposal which clearly points the “way to transport greening”, and will allow renewal of the fleet of vehicles using innovative technologies and the modernisation of recharge infrastructures. They underlined the need to maintain a balance between environmental ambition and the imperative of safeguarding the European motor industry.
The commissioner for climate action pointed out that the proposal takes three aspects into account – protection of the environment, health protection and the impact on employment. He said that “some (had) forgotten one or the other aspect”. He underlined that the 2025 objective, which some countries do not advocate, should be fixed to allow the required investment to begin in order to reach the 2030 objective.
Addressing those who would prefer the goal of a 40% reduction in emissions, aligned on the Paris Climate Agreement, the commissioner answered: “This is not the most eco-efficient objective as over-rapid transition to electrification of the fleet will cause jobs to be lost”. In his view, hybrid vehicles needing recharge will allow a smooth transition in a key automobile sector that generates 12 million jobs in Europe. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)