Commission delays plans to publish legislation to cut van CO2 emissions
Wed 16 September 2009
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The European Commission has postponed plans to publish draft legislation aimed at limiting CO2 reductions from vans. While the delay is only a few weeks - until early October - there are reports of internal disagreements about the legislative proposals.
According to reports in the Financial Times, the proposed draft standard for 2013 will be 175 g/km, with a long-term target of 135 g/km also part of the plans. There will be a package of fines for vehicle makers who exceed the agreed limits.
The plans, initially due to be unveiled in mid-September, are being delayed according to a report in ENDS, because of strong opposition to the proposals from the Commission's Enterprise Department. The proposals have been drafted by the Environment Department. DG environment wants to limit van emissions to 175 grams per kilometre by mid-2013, according to media reports.
T&E Director Jos Dings (reported by ENDS) said: "After [Commission president] Barroso talked in his re-election manifesto about the need to decarbonise the EU transport sector, I do not think DG enterprise has much chance of defeating the plan. But we do have grave concerns over the ambition levels that will emerge in the final draft", he added.
Earlier, the news agency Reuters had reported new details of the draft proposals. From July 2013 van manufacturers would face fines of €120 per vehicle for each gram of CO2 above their fleet-wide emission targets, though fines would be lower for the first three grams over the target.
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