EU agrees deal for emissions cuts from vans
Thu 16 December 2010
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The European Union has reached a deal which sets emissions limits for the entire van fleet to be reached by 2017 and 2020. Under the agreement, the average new van sold in the EU in 2017 will be required to emit 175g CO2/km or less, and 147g CO2/km in 2020.
The agreements are looser and will take place later than was originally proposed by the European Commission, which drafted the proposal as part of the EU's efforts to cut rising emissions from transport.
European Voice reports that policy makers were under heavy pressure from car-making countries – notably France and Germany - to allow the industry more time to comply with the targets. The industry will have until 2017 meet the 175g CO2/km target – a year later than the Commission had proposed. The 2020 target was scaled back to 147g/km CO2 instead of the 135g initially proposed.
Nevertheless, the European Commissioner for climate action, Connie Hedegaard welcomed the agreement. She said: “The agreed regulation will make vans less polluting and will contribute to our overall ambition to cut emissions from transport.”
Kerstin Meyer of Brussels-based NGO Transport and Environment said that the EU should have rejected car-makers' claims that more demanding targets were impossible. “The industry said it couldn't make a 14% improvement in van efficiency over nine years, while it managed to improve car efficiency at more than three times that rate last year. Policymakers must do a better job of holding the industry to account when it makes such claims.”
Paul Everitt, Chief Executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, writing in a letter to Transport Times said it is important to recognise that improvements in car emissions are not neccessarily transferable to the van sector. "The van market already has a high proportion of diesel engines which, because they are working vehicles, already benefit from significant fuel efficiency optimisation. The van market is also extremely diverse, has much longer production cycles and extremely low profit margins," he wrote.
The European Carmakers' Association (ACEA) has long argued that 160g CO2/km is the “most feasible” 2020 target for industry.
The UK Government had been pushing for a 135g/km target for 2022.
According to a recent Parliamentary Answer given by transport minister Norman Baker to a question posed by Katy Clark, MP. Mr Baker said: "The UK Government strongly support the inclusion of an ambitious but realistic long-term target in the proposed EU new van CO2 regulation.
"The UK's opening negotiating position was 135g/km in 2022, as our analysis shows that this represents the best approach to deliver significant but cost-effective CO2 savings from vans. However, the UK Government understand that all other member states are negotiating for a 2020 target. Negotiations on this target are ongoing, but it will necessarily be less ambitious than a 2022 target."
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