European Council debates cars and CO2- focus on burden sharing between large and small car makers
Wed 05 March 2008
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The European Council's debate on 3 March was national environment ministers' first opportunity to hold a significant debate on the Commission's CO2 proposals for 2012. The debate was dominated by disagreement over burden sharing between the makers of large cars (mainly German) and smaller cars (mainly France and Italy). Several states, including the UK backed the inclusion of a medium-term emissions target for 2020 in addition to the 2012 target.
There was also ongoing disagreement over whether the regulation should be based on car weight or 'footprint'. From some ministers there was criticism of “excessive” fines for non-compliance.
On burden sharing between large and small manufacturers, much debate centred on the 'slope of the curve' on a graph measuring weight versus CO2 emissions reduction. While the Commission is pushing for a 60% slope, Germany is insisting on an 80% slope to accommodate its companies including Mercedes, BMW and Porsche. The French environment minister argued, however, that even a 60% slope would be "very difficult" to achieve and that 30% should be the maximum.
Environment ministers also disagreed on the size of fines for manufacturers that miss their individual CO2 targets, with many delegations saying the Commission proposals were "excessive" and would both push up car prices and lead to a slower renewal of the existing fleet.
ACEA, the European car makers association has already signalled its opposition to the proposed level of fines. ACEA says that the level of penalties is disproportionate and will bring carbon savings only at up to 100 times the cost of what is paid by other industries in the EU's emissions trading scheme.
However, the Brussels-based NGO Transport and Environment (T&E) says penalties have not been set high enough to ensure full compliance. A T&E spokesman said: "We would like to stress that the €20, €35 and €60 levels of penalties, as proposed by the Commission for 2012-14, is well below the penalty level in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme of €100 per tonne of CO2".
A recent report by UK think-tank the ippr (see news link) also says that fines need to be levied at a level above what the industry says is the cost of meeting the regulated target.
In a related development, ENDS reports that the European Commission is seeking legal advice on a suggestion that it might have exceeded its powers by proposing fines for car makers which fail to meet the proposed CO2 targets.
A European Parliament committee has asked for the advice following a request from a German MEP, Klaus-Heiner Lehne, who says such penalties should remain a matter for national governments and not the EU.
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