Car manufacturers face mandatory emissions cuts
Limiting average carbon dioxide emissions from cars to 120 grams per kilometre by 2012, a reduction of around 25% from current levels, is the central goal of an ambitious new strategy put forward by the European Commission to substantially reduce CO2 emissions from cars sold in the EU. New technologies are expected to play the largest role in cutting emissions. 'Cleaner, more efficient and affordable cars will help reduce carbon dioxide in the EU, enable us to achieve our Kyoto targets, save energy and encourage innovation,' said EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. Road transport is responsible for around one fifth of the EU's CO2 emissions, with just over half of this coming from passenger cars. It is one of the few sectors where CO2 emissions are still rising rapidly, largely due to increases in traffic and car size. Until now, the Commission has relied on voluntary commitments from the automotive industry to reduce CO2 emissions from cars. However, a Commission review found that these voluntary measures have been only partially successful, and stronger, legally binding measures are needed if the EU's car industry is to meet its CO2 targets. In the coming months, the Commission will propose legislation requiring average emissions from new cars sold in the EU27 to meet the 120g CO2/km target by 2012. In 2004, the average car was emitting 163g/km. Improvements in vehicle technology will be expected to bring the level down to 130g CO2/km, and the last 10g will come from improvements to other car components which impact on fuel consumption such as tyres and air conditioning systems, as well as a reduction in the carbon content of road fuels through greater use of biofuels. The 120g CO2/km target is an average for all vehicles sold in the EU in a given year; how this will be arranged between manufacturers and vehicles will be decided after wide consultation and impact assessments. In the longer term, the strategy calls for research aimed at reducing emissions from new cars to an average of just 95g CO2/km by 2020. The Commission's core research priorities in the automotive field are the development of clean renewable fuels and vehicles and intelligent vehicles and roads. The car industry is also expected to contribute substantially to the research effort; it invests around €20 billion (5% of its turnover) in research and development, making it the largest industrial R&D investor in Europe. The strategy also calls for improved labelling, and encourages Member States that levy car taxes to base them on cars' CO2 emissions. The Commission invites car manufacturers to sign up to an EU code of good practice on car marketing and advertising to promote more sustainable consumption patterns. The European car industry is highly critical of the EU's plans. In a statement, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association described the targets as 'arbitrary and too severe', and claimed that they will lead to 'a loss of jobs and the relocation of production outside the EU, severely affecting several European regions.' For their part, environmentalists accuse the EU of weakening the targets, pointing out that the original voluntary targets were for new cars to emit an average of 120g CO2/km by 2005. This was subsequently pushed back to 2012. The fact that factors other than vehicle technology improvements are now allowed to contribute to the target is, for the environmentalists, a third weakening of the strategy. 'Not only is the car industry failing on its voluntary commitment to cut CO2 emissions, the Commission now wants to reward this failure with a weaker fuel-efficiency target,' commented Jos Dings of Transport and Environment. 'It's a very disappointing response to calls last week by the IPCC for serious action on climate change.' MEP Paul Rübig, spokesman on Industry, Research and Energy of the European People's Party and European Democrats in the European Parliament, described the imposition of a binding limit on CO2 emissions as 'necessary and justified'. He also contradicted the car industry's claims that the new strategy would damage the European economy. 'We can and will invest in new technologies, innovation and research, making our cars not only safer, but also more energy efficient and cheaper to use,' he said. 'This is a strategy that can boost our economy, create new jobs and make Europe's car industry the global number one.' The strategy will now be discussed by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The Commission will then implement the strategy based on their responses.