Average emissions from new cars continue to rise, with an increase of 1.6g CO2/km in 2019, according to EEA

On Friday 26 June, a report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) said that average emissions from new light-duty vehicles registered in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Iceland and Norway continued to rise in 2019, increasing by 1.6g CO₂ per kilometre for cars since 2018 to 122.4g CO₂/km.

This is the third consecutive increase in emissions (see EUROPE 12498/20), after recording a steady decline in emissions by almost 22g CO2/km between 2010 to 2016.

The reasons put forward by the EEA to explain these recent poor results remain the same as those provided in 2018: the growing share of SUVs in the European car fleet and the slow growth in electric car sales.

Although the average level of emissions from new cars remains below the EU-wide limit that applied until 2019 (130g CO₂/km), “manufacturers will have to significantly reduce emissions of their fleet to meet the stricter targets that apply from this year on [95g CO₂/km] ”, the European Commission also emphasised.  

For vans, they emitted an average of 158.4 g CO₂/km, which is 0.5 g/km more than in 2018. Again, this is below the target in force until 2019 (175g CO₂/km), but above the EU target that applies from 2020 (147g CO₂/km).

For this type of vehicle, apart from the limited increase in the share of electric vans (from 0.8% in 2018 to 1.3% in 2019), one of the reasons for this rise is an increase in their average mass, the EEA points out.

Responding to the report, Julia Poliscanova, Senior Director of Clean Vehicles for the NGO Transport&Environment, said that it’s “a scandal that [...] carmakers are still pushing gas-guzzling SUVs”. For her, “the EU must stop this maximising of profits at the cost of public health and the planet by bringing in annual or bi-annual emissions targets”.

Read the report: https://bit.ly/2NvNeIX (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)