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EP Committee votes on CO2 emissions strategy |
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The European Parliament's Environment Committee has agreed to adopt tough vehicle emission targets as from 2009 on and promote the use of high efficient air conditioning. The final report will now be put to a full plenary vote.
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2007-09-13
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In its meeting on 12 September, the Environment (ENVI) Committee agreed to a mandatory target of 120 g/km CO2 emissions by 2012 for all new cars put on the EU market. Binding annual emission limits from 2009 on will make sure that this target will be met by technical means alone.
The ENVI Committee thus favours even stricter emission limits than those the European Commission proposed in its CO2 Emission Strategy from February. Although the Commission strategy sets the same overall target of 120 g/km by 2012, it only foresees a reduction to 130 g/km through technical improvements with the remaining 10 g/km coming from additional measures, such as efficient air conditioning or the use of biofuels. Chris Davis, the Parliament's rapporteur on the issue, therefore welcomed yesterday's vote as "a very strong environmental signal to achieve the 2012 target through technical means alone."
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In total, the ENVI Committee voted on more than 200 amendments tabled by Parliamentarians to a draft report by UK Liberal Davies. Acknowledging that CO2 emissions from the car sector are growing fast, Davies insisted: "We need action and we need it fast." Referring to the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, he added: "We have the technology to make a difference as has been clearly shown at this week's IAA."
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Air Conditioning to be part of tests & advertising
Regarding Mobile Air Conditioning, the ENVI Committee adopted an amendment recommending that air conditioning test results should be included in the fuel consumption information in all marketing and promotional material. The Committee also proposed the introduction of a binding code for advertising to outlaw false green claims by carmakers.
In addition, it urged the European Commission to introduce new measurements and standards that help attribute emissions to single car components, and thus to promote the use of high efficiency air conditioning.
Next Steps
The final ENVI Committee report will be put to the plenary vote by the whole Parliament in November. The position of the Parliament will finally feed into the further legislative process. By end-2007 or early-2008, the European Commission is expected to issue draft legislation.
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More information:
› Read the article: "Parliament committees support strict CO2 targets ", 19 July
› Read the article: "Controversy around EU CO2 targets for cars", 27 June
› Read the article: "EU Parliament discusses CO2 car strategy", 4 May
› More about the EU CO2 emissions strategy in our Policies section
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