EU Agrees to Cut Emissions from Cars by 37.5 pct by 2030
by Philip Blenkinsop (Reuters) The European Union agreed on Monday a compromise over how sharply to curb carbon dioxide emissions from cars and vans, finally settling differences between car-producing countries and more environmentally conscious lawmakers.
“We reached a compromise to cut emissions from cars by 37.5 percent and vans by 31 percent by 2030,” European energy chief Miguel Arias Canete said in a tweet.
…
European Parliament lawmakers voted in October in favour of a 40 percent reduction by 2030 and an intermediate target of 20 percent by 2025, drawing howls from the car industry.
EU diplomats said the targets remained a problem.
The targets to curb emissions from the transport sector, the only industry in which emissions are still rising, are aimed at helping the bloc reach its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions overall by 40 percent by 2030.
…
EU countries are separately considering the extent to which truck emissions should be cut, with a debate due on Thursday. READ MORE
EU to cut new car emissions by 37.5 percent by 2030 (Phys.Org)
Auto industry reacts to deal on CO2 targets for cars and vans (ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association))
Energy: new ambitious targets on renewables and energy efficiency (European Parliament)
EU Parliament vote on CO2 targets for cars and vans: auto industry voices concerns (ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association))
Car and van CO2 targets: environment ministers adopt common position, auto industry reacts (ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association))
Truck CO2 standards: European Parliament vote highly alarming, says industry (ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association))
Trucks: CO2 targets voted by European Parliament ‘excessively aggressive’, say manufacturers (ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association))
EU’s first truck CO2 standards: industry urges national governments to adopt viable approach (ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association))
Affordable mobility threatened by car CO2 targets, major auto CEOs warn (ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association))
Excerpt from Phys.Org: Siding with Germany, the bloc’s biggest auto producer, were several eastern EU countries. France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Ireland backed the parliament’s more ambitious goal.
Elisabeth Kostinger, who chaired the talks under the union’s Austrian six-month EU presidency, described the negotiations leading to the deal as “tough and tense.”
But she added she was confident the EU member countries would endorse it.
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) expressed “serious concerns about the highly challenging CO2 targets” that the industry will have to meet in 12 years.
‘Political motives’
The target “might sound plausible, but is totally unrealistic based on where we stand today,” ACEA said.
ACEA said the goals flowed from “political motives” that failed to account for hurdles to consumers buying more electric and other alternatively powered vehicles.
…
“Europe is shifting up a gear in the race to produce zero emission cars,” said Greg Archer, clean vehicles director at T&E.
“The new law means by 2030 around a third of new cars will be electric or hydrogen-powered. That’s progress but it’s not fast enough to hit our climate goals,” Archer said. READ MORE
