EU Commission wants to tighten car CO2 limits
The EU Commission apparently wants to tighten the CO2 limits for cars again. A media report, citing an internal paper, writes that new cars are to emit an average of 50 per cent less CO2 by 2030 compared to 2021. The current official target is set at 37.5 per cent less CO2.
The report quotes an internal document stating that the overriding goal is to reduce European emissions by 55 per cent compared to 1990, where the original plan was to reduce emissions by 40 per cent. The paper apparently also proposes to include transport in the emissions trading system. The plans will be officially presented later this week.
Such a tightening of conditions would require a faster restructuring of the transport sector. Since spring 2019, a negotiated compromise between the Commission, Parliament and member states has been officially in force. According to the compromise, new passenger cars are to emit 37.5 per cent less CO2 by 2030 and light commercial vehicles 31 per cent less CO2 than in 2021.
As an interim step, a 15 per cent reduction must be achieved in both vehicle classes by 2025. EU parliamentarians approved the new law with 521 votes in favour, 63 against and 34 abstentions. As a reminder: by 2021, the maximum value for a fleet average for new cars in the EU is 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre. This is also the basis on which the negotiated reduction targets are based.
And now a further tightening of the targets? The German automobile union VDA already reacted to the media reports and expressed its indignation. The agreed targets are already very ambitious, it says. However, environmental and transport organizations such as the NGO Transport & Environment said that the targets do not go far enough to make a significant impact on climate change.
While on the subject: A recently published study by the Belgian research institute Climact and the Cologne-based NewClimate Institute on behalf of Greenpeace calculated how many more combustion cars the European transport sector can tolerate before the Paris climate targets become unattainable. According to these calculations, no more vehicles with combustion engines should be permitted after 2028 in order to comply with the pact.
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