Industry News
Environment Committee MEPs back car Carbon Allowance Reduction system by 2011
20th September 2007
Voluntary limits on CO2 emissions by European cars are not working and should be replaced by mandatory caps, says a new report on emissions from the European Parliament's Environment Committee, reported on today by the Parliament’s press office. They want binding limits for cars by 2009 and have set a target of an emission level of 120 grams of CO2 per km by 2012. (The European Commission has proposed a statutory target of 130 g/km by the same date.)
Under the present voluntary code car makers have set themselves a limit of 140g of CO2 by 2008. However the MEPs’ report echoes other analyses in concluding that this will not be met. Present voluntary reductions are on track to reach 150g CO2 per km by next year, according to the MEPs’ report.
The Environment Committee report says there are over 216 million cars on the EU’s roads, and says, “The problem is they are choking the environment”. In July this year a further 1.3 million new cars joined the roads. Overall the number of cars on Europe's roads has grown by 40% from 1990 to 2004, with car CO2 emissions rising by a third.
British Liberal MEP Chris Davies, who drafted the report, says "Any legislation should specify technical standards to be met by manufacturers". He says the recent Frankfurt motor show demonstrated that the "technology already exists" to cut CO2 emissions. His report was drafted in response to a "strategy paper" by the European Commission ahead of possible legislation later this year or early next. At present it covers vehicles below 3.5 metric tonnes. MEPs on the Environment Committee backed Davies’ proposal on 9th September. The full Parliament will debate the report in the November Plenary session.
However, some voices believe that the problem should not solely be laid at the car manufacturer's door. UK Conservative Martin Callanan would like to see a combined effort from "fuel suppliers, consumers and government initiatives". He also believes that encouraging a change in driving habits could have an impact.
As well as specific legislative CO2 limits, the report's backers want financial penalties and rewards for manufacturers who break or beat the carbon targets, and propose a "Carbon Allowance Reduction System" (CARS) which they want to be operational by 2011.
Finnish Green MEP Satu Hassi estimates that a 10 gram per km reduction in the emissions of the 16 million new cars a year would mean "a saving of 2 million tons of CO2" per year.
(www.europarl.europa.eu/)
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