EU Needs Phase-out Date for New Petrol and Diesel Cars, Nine Countries Say
by Marine Strauss, Kate Abnett (Reuters) The European Commission should set a date to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars across the European Union to align the transport sector with climate goals, nine member countries said on Wednesday.
Led by Denmark and the Netherlands, the countries have written to the European Commission, the bloc’s executive, calling for ambitious EU policies to tackle the quarter of EU greenhouse gases that come from transport.
This must include a phase-out date for the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans in the EU, to support the shift to zero-emission vehicles, the countries said.
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The other countries joining the push were Austria, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Malta.
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EU legislation should also be amended to allow countries to take national action to phase out new petrol and diesel cars, they said.
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The UK government has pledged to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans in 2030.
Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars in the EU almost trebled to over 1 million vehicles in 2020, accounting for more than 10% of overall sales. READ MORE
No deadline yet for phasing out polluting cars, says EU (EuroNews)
Excerpt from EuroNews: Brussels is refusing to set a clear deadline to phase out petrol and diesel cars, as it aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Earlier in March, nine EU countries, (the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Malta, Ireland, Lithuania and Luxembourg) sent a letter asking the European Commission to decide on an end date for the production and sales of internal combustion car engines in Europe.
Tim McPhie, a European Commission spokesman, told Euronews it was working towards ending the use of polluting cars, but as things stand, there is no definitive date for when. READ MORE
