European Commission proposes legislation for 2012 car emissions
Wed 19 December 2007
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The European Commission has announced its proposals for limiting average new car CO2 emissions to 120 grams per kilometre by 2012. The proposals include a sliding scale of fines on car makers who fail to meet the target and a weight-based formula to share the burden for cutting emissions more equitably between the car makers. Low volume car makers will be exempted from the proposals.
The draft legislation defines a limit value curve of CO2 emissions allowed for new vehicles based on weight. The curve is set in such a way that a fleet average of 130 grams of CO2 per kilometre is achieved. The additional 10g/km, to meet the overall 120g/km target will be contributed through the 'integrated approach,' including low carbon fuels, energy saving tyres etc.
Each car manufacturer will have to ensure that, by 2012, measured fleet average emissions are below the limit value curve when all registered vehicles are taken into account. The Commission says that the level of emissions by heavier cars will have to be improved proportionately more than lighter cars, though manufacturers will still be able to make cars with emissions above the limit value curve provided these are offset by cars which fall below the curve.
The Commission proposes that penalties for failing to comply with the regulation will start at 20 Euros per gram of carbon dioxide over the target in 2012 and will grow to 95 Euros in 2015. The Commission says that meeting the targets will push up the purchase price of new cars by around 6% but that drivers will easily recoup this additional cost in fuel cost savings over the lifetime of their vehicle. Savings will be greater if fuel prices continue to increase.
It is also reported that the makers of bigger cars will be able to 'pool' their total car sales with other car companies making lower-emitting cars to meet the average 130 gram target.
Environment groups were critical of the proposals. Transport and the Environment (T&E), the Brussels-based NGO, said that the proposals are "a pat on the back for SUV makers and a setback for Europe's low carbon future". The T&E Director Jos Dings said: "In 1995 Europe recognised the need for a long term target for CO2 emissions from new cars of 120g/km. Today, twelve years on, the Commission has not only failed to come forward with a new long term target but weakened the existing one."
T&E are critical of the weakened target and the low, graduated level of fines saying that car makers can meet the 130g/km objective with existing, off-the-shelf technology. They also criticised the Commission's failure to include targets for 2020 and 2025, saying that this will not give sufficient longer term incentive to invest in fuel efficiency. T&E had recommended that fines for carmakers missing the average CO2 target should be 150 Euros per gram exceeded, per car sold.
T&E are also opponents of the 'weight-based curve' approach adopted by the Commission. They say that this concession to the makers of larger, performance cars takes away much of the incentive to reduce vehicle weight, one of the easiest and most effective ways of cutting fuel consumption.
Car manufacturers were also critical of the Commission's announcement. ACEA (the trade body for the European car industry) said that the proposals do not offer a balanced framework to cut CO2 emissions and to safeguard EU competitiveness, the European automotive sector and growth. It said they would lead to costs being disproportionate to environmental gains and the costs of carbon reduction facing other sectors.
Volkswagen said the proposals are unfair to German manufacturers, though the company welcomed the decision to phase cost penalties in over four years.
French car-maker Peugeot said: "These plans are anti-ecological, anti-social, anti-economical and anti-competitive in relation to non-European Union carmakers."
BMW said the proposals were "naive" steps that would distort the market in favour of makers of smaller cars. The only good thing about them, the company said, is that the steps were only proposals and not yet legislation, so can still be improved.
German car makers look likely to be hit hardest by the regulations as they are currently framed as they have historically produced more high-performance, mostly higher carbon cars. Consequently, the German Government has reacted particularly negatively to the proposals. Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "We believe that this path is not economically favourable. We think, therefore, that industrial policy is being made here which burdens Germany and German carmakers." Meanwhile, Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's environment minister, said on German television: "There's no way that German carmakers are soon going to be required to make payments to Italian and French companies that make smaller cars."
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