EU announcement on mandatory targets provokes varying responses
Mon 12 February 2007
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The European Commission's proposals for for limiting average new car CO2 emissions to 130 grams per km by 2012 have produced widely varying reactions from motor manufacturers, environment groups and other stakeholders.
The Guardian reported that the UK's The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) expressed "grave concerns" over the proposals, which it said would result in less choice and higher prices for consumers. The SMMT chief executive Christopher Macgowan, said the industry had already demonstrated its commitment to cutting CO2 emissions and had hit interim targets of the voluntary agreement.
"We have also already produced and brought to market cars that can meet the 120g/km limit - the problem is that motorists do not buy them," he said.
In contrast, environment groups said that the proposals did not go far enough. Friends of the Earth's said the target was too weak. Transport campaigner Tony Bosworth said: "Following last week's devastating report on the threat of global climate change it is clear that tougher action is required, not weaker."
The Liberal Democrat MEP, Chris Davies, said that the Commission's decision was a crucial test of its commitment to tackle climate change. He said: "Behind the scenes Commissioners have been fighting like rats in a bag, with motor industry lobbyists doing their very best to prevent the adoption of tough targets for CO2 reductions."
"But last week's frightening environment report has changed the ground rules. The test for the Commission is whether it will make clear its determination to meet the challenge of climate change, or back down in the face of business pressure."
The Brussels-based environment group, Transport & Environment (T&E) welcomed what it said was the unanimous support from ministers for binding legislation on fuel efficiency. Responding to an environment ministers debate some days after the EU announcement on 2012 targets, T&E said that only ministers from Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands sided with the European Parliament by recognising that the long-standing EU target for new cars should not be weakened. T&E says that the Commission has proposed that the 120 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometer target for the average new car by 2012 should be "watered down with other measures such as use of biofuels".
Jos Dings of T&E said: "Climate change is a long term challenge, and so is carmaking. Yet only a handful of countries recognised the need for long term action today. The Netherlands called for car fuel efficiency to be doubled by 2020. We hope other countries will follow their example."
There were strong reactions in Germany, whose manufacturers were reported to have been actively lobbying to weaken standards prior to the European Commission's announcement (see Der Spiegel news link). The Conservative daily newspaper Die Welt said: "Politics has discovered a new enemy: It is the car, and in particular the German car. Popular and coveted throughout the world, it has now been enthusiastically declared a pollution-spewer and climate killer. Even though Europe's CO2 emissions only make up 0.56 percent of the global total, one could be forgiven for thinking that the German car industry carries the main guilt for global warming".
The centre-left newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote: "Climate protection is now catching up with Germans -- the manufacturers as much as the customers. However, the EU and its member states will have to look for other ways to make transport less damaging to the environment. In the end fuel efficiency in cars is not a question of how far a vehicle travels. It is about limiting traffic to a bearable level."
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