Brussels, 07/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has saved face. Its revised strategy to cut CO2 emissions from private cars, adopted on 7 February by the College of Commissioners, keeps the initial objective of reducing the average CO2 emissions of new cars to 120 g per kilometre or less by 2012 (see EUROPE 9360). But the obligations on car manufacturers will be relaxed compared with what was agreed in 1995 when the EU initially pledged to the above target, later reconfirmed by the European Council in June 2006 in its review of the EU's sustainable development strategy.
The legislation the European Commission is planning to bring in (to deal with the failure of the voluntary agreement by European, Japanese (JAMA) and Korean (KAMA) car manufacturers in 1998 to bear fruit) is expected to force car manufacturers to reduce average CO2 emissions from new cars to no more than 130 g/km by 2012, leaving it to other stakeholders to make the remaining 10% of greenhouse gas emission cuts through the introduction of new technology.
This is the most controversial and critical section of the European Commission's communication, taking advantage of the postponing of its decision to find a compromise acceptable to EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, anxious to introduce legislation as planned if car manufacturers failed to reach their voluntary target of less than 140 g/km by 2008 for ACEA and by 2009 for JAMA and KAMA, and Gunter Verheugen, Vice-President of the Commission with responsibility for Industry, who feared that any binding target would damage the competitiveness of the European car industry and have a devastating impact on jobs in this key industry. Concern about competitiveness has been expressed to the Commission by the German car industry, the German economy minister and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Before introducing legislation, the European Commission will consult all stakeholders and made a detailed impact study.
The main measures of the Commission's revised integrated strategy to tackle climate change and preserve the competitiveness of a promising industry by making the most of Europe's potential to make technological advances are as follows:
EU legislation to reduce CO2 emissions from new cars and vans will be proposed by the Commission by the end of this year or at the latest by mid 2008 to ensure that by 2012, the average level of CO2 emissions from any private car sold in the EU27 shall be 120g/km or less (fuel consumption of 4.5 litres per 100 km for diesel cars and 5 litres per 100 km for petrol cars), a 25% reduction on current levels. Improvements in motor technology would have to reduce average emissions to no more than 130g/km, while complementary measures would contribute a further emissions cut of up to 10g/km, thus reducing overall emissions to 120g/km. These complementary measures include efficiency improvements for car components with the highest impact on fuel consumption, such as tyres and air conditioning systems, and a gradual reduction in the carbon content of road fuels, notably through greater use of biofuels. Efficiency requirements will be introduced for these car components, as foreseen in the revised draft directive on fuel quality adopted on 31 January 2007 (see EUROPE 9356).
For vans, the fleet average objectives would be 175g by 2012 and 160g by 2015, compared with 201g in 2002.
Support for research efforts aimed at further reducing emissions from new cars to an average of 95g CO2/km by 2020
Measures will be taken to encourage people to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles through improvements in labelling and measures to encourage the Member States that levy road tax to base it on cars' CO2 emissions.
Car manufacturers will be asked to sign an EU Code of Good Practice on car marketing and advertising to promote more sustainable consumption patterns by encouraging manufacturers to focus on fuel efficiency rather than the vehicle size and horse-power.
Speaking to the press, Günter Verheugen took pains to point out that in both his own view and that of Commissioner Dimas, recourse to a legislative option was “imperative”. “The objective laid down in 2008 by voluntary agreement was for 140 g/km. Today, however, we are at 163 g/km. With certain technological advances, we may be able to make a few improvements between now and 2008, but we will still be a long way from 120g/km. The builders put this down to consumer purchases of large-capacity vehicles. We have tried to reach a solution which takes on board the dramatic data of climate change. We are laying the foundation stones for a new approach, but it will take us a bit of time to think about what can be done on a technical level”, he stated. He went on to stress the need to take account of the enormous pressure of the costs of the measures on SMEs, on small car builders, like in Spain. “This has not always been fully understood. It is not a question of large cars and small cars. The future of the automotive sector will be determined by the way in which the builders of large and medium engine capacity cars are able to resist international competition. We need a solution to avoid delocalisations and to stop consumers from buying in other parts of the world”, Mr Verheugen stressed, referring to the increasing competition to be feared, in the years to come, from Chinese and Indian car manufacturers. The Commissioner went on to plead in favour of differentiated emissions reduction objectives. “In Germany, it was felt that there could be a uniform objective for the manufacturers. We intend to modulate the objectives depending on the types and classes of vehicles, and we will guarantee production sites to guarantee jobs in Europe”, he said.
The Vice-President believes that it is necessary for the Member States to use tax breaks to incentivise consumers to turn to cleaner and more fuel-efficient cars. He stated that the cost for the reduction of 1 tonne of CO2 by dint of engine technologies will cost 235 EUR for each type of vehicle (individual calculations to be made for each class of vehicle), “which will, of course, increase production costs in a sector where we have already imposed a good number of rules to improve safety”. But throughout the entire life cycle of the vehicle, the costs will be balanced out by petrol savings, the Commissioner added, calling upon the automotive industry to “meet the considerable challenge ahead of it, rather than to see it as a threat”.
Stavros Dimas is less concerned about the means, as long as the environmental objective is met.
“The benefits to the environment are the ones that we hope to achieve. The integrated approach takes 10 g off the burden of the car builders and puts it onto the shoulders of other players, but the result will be the same: achieving our objective of 120 g/km”, the Commissioner for the Environment stated.
On the basis of the latest alarming conclusions of the inter-governmental panel on climate change, Mr Dimas spoke of the importance of “getting stuck into CO2 emissions caused by transport, which are responsible for a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, with 19 of these 25 percentage points being imputable to private cars, and changing lifestyles”. In the view of the Commissioner, the strategy which the Commission has just presented responds to highly ambitious objectives and contains specific measures to achieve them. “An average of 120g/km is the most ambitious objective in the world, but it is a realistic objective”, he stated. It is also what is needed to move towards a low-carbon economy, which is “essential to prevent the dramatic increase in temperatures”. This strategy, and the amended proposed directive on fuel quality are, he believes, “the two real tests to see whether the EU will do what it says” to achieve its objectives under the Kyoto Protocol and to be in the position to achieve the new unilateral objectives proposed by the Commission to the EU to step up its fight against global warming beyond 2012 (a reduction of at least 20% in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020). Stavros Dimas, who has every confidence in technological progress, said that the raft of measures recommended by the Commission would help to herald the dawn of cleaner, more efficient and more affordable cars, and that the “costs will be more than compensated for by fuel savings”. Both Commissioners, therefore, found a pleasing unanimity in the satisfaction they both voiced on the compromise reached.
This cannot, however, be said of the European automotive industry and the environmentalists. Both groups are dissatisfied with the measures in the pipeline, but for quite different reasons, not surprisingly. In the view of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), the proposed reduction targets are “arbitrary and too strict”, the proposals announced “imbalanced and harmful to the European economy in terms of potential wealth, jobs and growth”. “We call on the governments of the Member States and on the Parliament to draw up a reasonable and well-balanced strategy to achieve the EU's objective of 120g/km by 2012, by including the efforts of all parties concerned and by including both existing and new cars”, said Sergio Marchione, President of the ACEA, who criticises the ideas put forward by the Commission for “concentrating far too much on automotive technology”.
In the opposite camp, the Greens/EFA at the Parliament accuse the automotive industry of sabotaging the initial plan of Commissioner Dimas. “It is irresponsible to water down the efficiency objectives for motor vehicles by taking account of agro-fuels and other innovations”, said Alain Lipietz (Greens, France). As for the environmental NGOs, they accuse the Commission of having given in to the lobbying brought to bear by the German car builders and agreeing to reduce “an 11-year-old objective” set for the automotive industry to make its contribution to the fight against climate change. This, just a few days after the warning launched by the IPCC, the NGO Transport and Environment complained. These are just a few initial reactions to a dossier on which the controversy is sure to continue. (an)