Emission performance standards for new passenger cars

PURPOSE: to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market for passenger cars by laying down harmonised rules to limit the average CO2 emissions from the new car fleet in the Community to 130g CO2/km by 2012.

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

BACKGROUND: while the EU as a whole has reduced its emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by approximately 5% over the 1990-2004 period and emissions have been declining in non-transport sectors, CO2 emissions from road transport have increased by 26%. Despite significant improvements in vehicle motor technology, in particular in fuel efficiency, demand for transport and vehicle size has increased and progress has been too slow in view of the Community objective to reduce average emissions from the new car fleet to 120 g CO2/km.

Adopting Community targets for new passenger cars is necessary to prevent fragmentation in the internal market resulting from the adoption of different measures at Member State level. Community targets provide manufacturers with more planning certainty and more flexibility to meet the CO2 reduction requirements than would be provided by separate national reduction targets.

It should be noted that the review of the Community Strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars and light-commercial vehicles (see INI/2007/2119) envisaged a certain number of complementary measures, which should allow a further reduction of emissions of 10g CO2/km or equivalent, so that the average overall emissions of the new car fleet would be sufficiently reduced to reach the Community target of 120g CO2/km.

CONTENT: the proposal aims to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market for passenger cars by ensuring that average specific emissions of new passenger cars in the Community do not exceed 130g CO2/km from 2012 onwards. The aim of this Regulation is to create incentives for the car industry to invest in new technologies. The Regulation actively promotes eco-innovation and takes into account future technological developments, which strengthens the competitiveness of the European Industry and stimulates the creation of more high-quality jobs.

The key aspects of the proposal are as follows:

the proposal will apply to M1 vehicles (passenger cars);

the proposal sets targets for the specific emissions of CO2 from new passenger cars in the Community as a function of their mass;

the proposal sets mandatory targets for the specific emissions of CO2 of passenger cars from 2012 onwards. The targets will apply to the average specific emissions of CO2 in g/km for new passenger cars for each manufacturer which are registered in the EU in each calendar year. Manufacturers may form a pool in order to meet their targets. Where two or more manufacturers form a pool, the pool will be treated as if it is one manufacturer for the purposes of determining its compliance with the targets;

Member States will be obliged to collect data on the new cars registered in their territory and to report this data to the Commission for the purposes of assessing compliance with the targets;

If a manufacturer fails to meet its target, it will be required to pay an excess emissions premium in respect of each calendar year from 2012 onwards. The premium will be calculated by multiplying the number of g CO2/km by which the manufacturer exceeded its target by the number of cars newly registered and by the excess emissions penalty for the year. The excess emissions penalty will be EUR 20 for emissions in 2012, EUR 35 for emissions in 2013, EUR 60 for emissions in 2014 and EUR 95 for emissions in 2015 and each subsequent year.

The targets under the Regulation are established on the basis of the best knowledge currently available, particularly regarding the likely fleet evolution between now and 2012 in respect of the autonomous weight increase. The proposed measures will lead to a 19% reduction in CO2 emissions, placing the EU among world leaders in terms of fuel-efficient cars.