Air pollution: scheme to monitor the average emissions of carbon dioxide CO2 from new passenger cars
The Commission presents its 2008 report on monitoring data for the CO2 emissions from new passenger cars in the EU in accordance with Decision (EC) 1753/2000. The report notes that, in comparison to the reports in previous years, the CO2 emissions figures are not corrected by 0.7%. This correction by 0.7% had been applied in assessing the progress made by the manufacturing associations ACEA, JAMA and KAMA, in order to compensate for a change in the test procedure that took place after their voluntary commitments were made.
Average CO2 emissions from new passenger cars: the average specific CO2 emissions in the year 2008 were 153.5g CO2/km. This is a decrease by 3.3% or 5.2 grams per kilometre from the previous year (158.7g CO2/km in 2007) which is the largest relative drop in specific emissions since the beginning of the monitoring scheme. While some of this reduction may have been due to the onset of the economic crisis, the data indicate that there has not been any substantial downsizing of the car fleet as the average power stayed the same and mass fell only slightly to its 2006 level. Both petrol and diesel vehicles improved by more than 5 grams per kilometre in comparison to the year 2007. Since the year 2000, petrol vehicles improved by 11% while diesel vehicles only by 6%. On the other hand, alternative fuel vehicles (AFV) improved by 34% since year 2000. In 2008 the share of AFV almost doubled since the previous year and AFV are now accounting for 1.3% of new passenger car registrations.
In 2008 the EU15 Member States accounted for the vast majority of new passenger car registrations. The difference between the EU15 and EU10 in CO2 emissions of petrol vehicles decreased from almost 10 grams per kilometre in 2005 to less then 1 gram per kilometre in 2008 – new cars in the EU10 having lower CO2 emissions per kilometre. On the other hand, the average CO2 emissions of the new diesel passenger cars sold in EU15 are lower than those of the new diesel car fleet sold in EU10. While in 2005-2006 new diesel passenger cars in the EU15 were emitting on average 1-2 grams per kilometre more than the EU10, in 2008 new diesel passenger cars in the EU15 were emitting on average more than 4 grams less CO2 per kilometre than new vehicles in the EU10. In total, new passenger cars registered in the EU15 in the year 2008 have lower CO2 emissions than new passenger cars in the EU10 for the first time since the beginning of monitoring the CO2 emissions of new passenger cars.
Engine power and mass: while the average engine power of new passenger cars had been increasing in previous years, it remained constant between the years 2007 and 2008. The average engine power of petrol powered vehicles is seen to increase over time much more slowly than that of diesel vehicles. The 2008 data for the average engine power of AFV are confirming the decreasing trend of previous years. The average mass of new passenger cars decreased for the first time, going back to the level of 2006, after it had been continuously increasing in previous years. The mass decreased only slightly for petrol and diesel vehicles. On the other hand, AFV became lighter on average by 34 kg and their average mass is now very close to that of petrol vehicles.
Monitoring data by association: in year 2008, CO2 emissions from new passenger cars decreased for each association. In comparison to 2007, ACEA decreased its average emissions by 4.7 grams, JAMA by 5.8 grams and KAMA by 10.5 grams. The effect of the current financial crisis and economic downturn can be seen in the lower number of new passenger car registrations for each association in the year 2008. When compared to year 2007, we observe a decrease by 8%. This amount of new passenger car registrations corresponds roughly to the amount of registrations observed 4-5 years ago.