Today the European Commission announced its proposals to reduce CO2 emissions, which — along with other measures — the EC says will lead to a 10 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transport fuels between 2010 and 2020.
The EC held true to its word that it wants legislators to draft a mandate as early as this year that the "average emissions from new passenger cars" sold in the EU-27 must reach the 120g/km CO2 target by 2012. But following criticism from media and other observers that the EC was bowing to the interests of carmakers last week, it had little to say about exactly how the CO2 emissions target will be met:
How exactly this will be translated at the level of manufacturers and vehicles, and how the emissions saving of up to 10g CO2/km to be contributed by complementary measures will be divided amongst the various measures identified, have yet to be decided.
Other elements of the proposal:
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.
Average emissions from new cars sold in the EU-27 would have to reach the 120g CO2/km target by 2012. 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 tires 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.
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 to promote the purchase of fuel efficient vehicles, notably through an amendment to the car labeling directive to make it more effective and by encouraging Member States that levy road tax to base it on cars' CO2 emissions. The Council will be encouraged to adopt the Commission's proposal on road taxes without further delay.
An EU code of good practice on car marketing and advertising to promote more sustainable consumption patterns. The Commission is inviting car manufacturers to develop this and sign up to it by mid-2007.
The EC also formally acknowledged today that "given the slower than expected progress to date, the 120g CO2/km target will not be met by 2012 without additional measures."
Does that mean that voluntary reduction incentives do not work? Yet, the EC still seems to looks like it at least plans to meet the Kyoto limits:
Compared to today's situation, reaching the EU target of average CO2 emissions from new cars of 120 g CO2/km by 2012 will deliver 10% of the reduction effort that is still needed to meet the EU's Kyoto Protocol commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 8% below levels in the base year (in most cases 1990) by 2012.
Taking a longer term perspective, with the gradual renewal of the EU car fleet as more fuel efficient cars penetrate the market, the Commission calculates that the cumulative CO2 savings by 2020 of reaching the 120g CO2/km target in 2012 will be over 400 million [metric] tons.
