European Parliament Environment Committee votes to weaken van CO2 proposals
Sat 02 October 2010
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The European Parliament's Environment Committee has voted for a proposal with states that CO2 emissions from light commercial vehicles should be limited to 140g/km by 2020. This is lower than the 150g/km target originally proposed by rapporteur Martin Callanan MEP and above the European Commission’s target of 135g/km.
The Committee also backed Mr. Callanan's proposal to lower maximum penalties that manufacturers will have to pay for failing to meet their emission targets from €120 to €95 per gram of CO2 exceeded. The Committee did not, however, change a proposed interim limit of 175g/km phased in between 2014 and 2016 but it rejected calls from Mr. Callanan and the EP’s industry and transport committees to introduce speed limiters on vans.
The Committee extended by one year the period during which manufacturers can receive 'super-credits' for selling vehicles with very low emissions.
The Brussels-based NGO T&E said that the vote was "bad news for the millions of companies that could benefit from fuel-efficient vans to save on fuel bills." The T&E policy officer Kerstin Meyer said: "By weakening the long-term target, and the penalties, it also sends the wrong signal to the industry."
T&E has argued for much more ambitious targets, as recent improvements in fuel consumption among new vans, along with a study T&E published last April, suggested that the 2016 interim target of 175g will be easily achieved.
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