Brussels, 13/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - Former environment ministers from nine EU Member States (Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Finland and the United Kingdom) have joined together to call on the European Commission to do what is necessary to ensure that car makers and importers meet the objective to which they signed up and reduce average emissions for new cars to 120g CO2/km by 2010. The eight sent a letter to Jose Manuel Barroso on 8 September, expressing their concern at the alarming increase in emissions from transport, and urging the Commission to take firm measures. This move comes the day after the Commission issued a warning to European car makers, telling them to observe their voluntary commitment, if they wished to avoid binding legislation.
In their letter to the Commission President the eight wrote: “Ten years ago, we set the goal of 120g CO2/km average emissions for new cars sold in Europe by 2005 or 2010 at the latest. We did that for good reasons. With greenhouse gas emissions from transport up by 32% between 1990 and 2004 and oil prices now at $70 a barrel, the attainment of that goal is now more urgent than it was ten years ago. There is increased evidence of climate change, to which cars contribute 15%. Yet, despite modest improvements in fuel efficiency, total CO2 emissions from cars in the EU are still rising. Strong measures are necessary to achieve the 15 to 30% CO2 reductions target by 2020 that EU leaders called for in their March 2005 summit. The oil used to power cars is a huge cost to the European economy. The annual bill is now almost as much as the entire EU budget. Serious and legally-binding fuel efficiency standards for cars are one of the most important and effective steps that can and should be taken at EU level. The Lisbon Strategy calls for a dynamic and knowledge-based economy. We consider that it is wiser to invest Europe's limited resources in advanced fuel-efficient technology than to invest in oil burnt unnecessarily in car engines. We therefore urge you to do what is necessary to ensure that the carmakers and importers of Europe reach the 120g CO2/km target by 2010 as well as other targets beyond that date”.
Signatories to this letter were Svend Auken (Denmark), Corinne Lepage (France), Brendan Howlin (Ireland), Edo Ronchi (Italy), Margreeth de Boer (Netherlands), Elisa Ferreira (Portugal), Pekka Haavisto (Finland) and John Gummer (United Kingdom).