Government launches consultation on European proposals for vans and CO2 regulation
Thu 18 March 2010
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The Department for Transport has opened a consultation and published an accompanying impact assessment on the EC proposal for a regulation of the CO2 emissions of new vans. Meanwhile, discussions have begun within the European Parliament on the proposed regulation.
Lord Adonis said in a statement that the Government "strongly support the principle of regulating van CO2...this sector of road transport accounts for a growing proportion of transport emissions, and we estimate this regulation would save millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions within the next decade".
A copy of the consultation document and accompanying Impact Assessment is available via the associated link. The deadline for responses is 10 June.
The Department for Transport has recently released the results of a statistical survey concerning the use of low carbon vans. Questionnaires were sent out in the summer of 2009 to both owners of low carbon vans, and owners of non low carbon vans. The survey asked owners about the reasons for buying and not buying low carbon vans, and incentives which might persuade them to purchase low carbon vans in the future. The results are available through the associated link.
Meanwhile, discussions have begun in the European Parliament on the proposed long-term CO2 emission-reduction target of 135 grams per kilometre by 2020 for vans. MEP Martin Callanan, who is leading the parliament's debate on European Commission proposals said that they are extremely ambitious and need justification. He also told the EU's Environment Committee that the recommended €120 per gram fine for exceeding a 2016 target of 175g/km target was "extremely large".
ENDS reports that Mr Callanan made a similar comment about penalties for carmakers during the Parliament's debate on car CO2 emissions in 2008. The British conservative MEP said the commission could not apply the same level of ambition to light commercial vehicles because it is a "very different" market.
In response, Kerstin Maier of the green transport group T&E said: "The car industry's lobbyists said no to car CO2 standards, but the engineers proved them wrong. They said the proposed short term target for vans was 'impossible', but the industry is well on the way. They are now attacking the proposed long term target for vans - but based on past performance that claim is just not credible.
"A 125g long-term target will bring down fuel bills and make Europe more competitive."
Some of Europe's biggest-selling vans are already close to meeting proposed EU CO2 targets for 2016 after making big improvements in fuel efficiency this year, according to T&E. Meanwhile the car industry lobby continues to claim that EU proposals for binding reduction targets are 'unrealistic'. That claim is not credible, says T&E.
The European Commission's proposal for binding CO2 targets for vans was announced in October 2009 and will be discussed by national environment ministers on Monday 15 March. It states that manufacturers should cut van emissions to an average of 175 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometre by 2016, a cut of around 14 percent compared to the 2007 baseline of 203 g.
In the run up to the proposal's announcement, the car industry lobby group ACEA described the targets as "completely, totally out of reach". The boss of VW's van division told Handelsblatt last month that the proposals are "unrealistic" (1).
And yet, the 2010 Volkswagen T5 van range achieved a reduction of about 10% in fuel consumption and CO2 compared to 2007 according to Volkswagen publicity (2). The T5 was the 3rd biggest selling van in Europe in 2007 according to JATO dynamics (3).
The most fuel-efficient new Renault Master emits 187 g/km (4). This is 15% more efficient than the best Renault Master from 2007 (5).
The new Ford Transit ECOnetic has CO2 emissions 11% better than the most efficient Ford Transit previously available (6). The Ford Transit was the best selling van in Europe in 2007 according to JATO.
The car industry was equally critical of binding car CO2 targets when they were proposed by the Commission in 2008. But progress on cars has moved forward significantly since then. Two of Europe's biggest selling cars, the Ford Focus and VW Golf are now available in 99g/CO2 versions, just a few grams away from the EU's average target for 2020.
Kerstin Meyer of Transport & Environment said:
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