EU Environment ministers approve reductions in car emissions, divided over implementation

On 28 June, the EU's 27 environment ministers unanimously backed a Commission plan that would force car manufacturers to implement steep cuts in vehicle emissions, but they failed to come any closer to agreeing on how the burden of these reductions should be spread out between makers of small and large models.

Cars account for around 20% of total European carbon-dioxide emissions and automobile manufacturers are expected to miss a 2008 voluntary commitment to reduce their pollution levels. For this reason, the Commission last February proposed introducing new binding legislation (earlier post). The EU Environment ministers backed the plan at the latest Council [*.pdf].

This sends a clear message to the car industry that current efforts to reduce emissions must continue and must be intensified and accelerated. - Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.

The strategy would require vehicle manufacturers to cut average emissions from new cars from the current 162grammes per kilometre to 130g/km by 2012 through vehicle-technology improvements, while asking other players, including tyre-makers, fuel suppliers, repairers, drivers and public authorities, to contribute to a further 10g/km reduction.

Concrete measures for realising these targets are yet to be decided upon, with the Commission due to announce proposals during 2007, once Council and Parliament have agreed on the strategy.

Divisions
However, the issue divides the European car industry, pitting French and Italian manufacturers, which typically produce smaller, more fuel-efficient models, against manufacturers of large, luxury vehicles – mainly German and UK-based companies such as Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover:
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While the former are already on track to meeting a 2008 target of 140g/km and want the tough standards to apply to individual manufacturers at fleet level, the latter say it is unfeasible to subject manufacturers of larger cars to the same standards as light-weight vehicles.

Carbon emissions from newly registered cars in Germany still averaged at 172.5 g/km in 2006. But German automakers insist that their cars simply respond to consumer demand for bigger, safer and more powerful cars and that it would be unfair to penalise them for it.

Since ministers failed to agree on suggestions for solving the dilemma, they will leave it up to the Commission to propose, said German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency through the end of June. The Commission's proposals are due at the end of the year or early in 2008.

Meanwhile in Parliament, Rapporteur Chris Davies has just submitted a report that advocates "sharing the task between manufacturers", by setting separate targets for models, according to their size and the cost of achieving emission reductions, in order to take into account "the large variation in consumer preferences regarding passenger cars and the different composition of manufacturers' fleets".

On the other hand, the MEP has proposed banning all cars that go faster than 162 km per hour – 25% above the usual EU state limit – in a move that would signal an end for sports cars such as Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini.

However, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel commented: "The competition problem is a tough nut to crack," adding: "There's an enormous conflict there, for example, between the German car industry and the French and Italian [industries]."

He said that targeting large vehicle manufacturers separately would not help to tackle climate change: "If you have more than 60% mid-size cars in the EU and 20% large cars, you cannot reach the 120 grammes target only by reducing the emissions of large cars. This is not possible. It's not a question of politics, it's a question of mathematics."

He also suggested that setting an identical reduction target for each carmaker's fleet would push companies to make acquisitions just to bring down the average emission levels.

Meanwhile, French and Italian car companies are pushing their ministers to support a strategy where each carmaker takes individual responsibility for meeting the target rather than the industry as a whole. "We do not want to subsidise German gas guzzlers," an Italian industry source said.

References:
Council: Conclusions on Results of the review of the Community Strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars and light-commercial vehicles [*.pdf], - June 28, 2007.

EurActiv: EU ministers divided over car-emissions rules - June 29, 2007.