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EU Parliament calls for real-life emission test cycles |
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A European Parliament report calls for test cycles to reflect real-life driving, more research funding to meet binding emission targets, and a 125 g/km CO2 limit by 2015. Meanwhile, the costs for carmakers to meet this target by 2012 are significantly less than projected, according to credit rating firm Moody's.
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2008-01-16
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The European Commission should start to revise emissions testing procedures to better reflect real-life driving conditions, according to Members of the European Parliament (MEP) meeting in Strasbourg on 15 January. This would also include the air conditioning. In the non-binding report "CARS 21: A Competitive Automotive Regulatory Framework", German Liberal Jorgo Chatzimarkakis urges the Commission to increase Member States' funding for research and development in the automotive sector to achieve the required CO2 emissions reduction through vehicle technology only. The Parliament suggests to dedicate one of the first knowledge and innovation communities of the new European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to emission-reducing technologies.
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Although the document welcomes the Commission's plans to reduce car emissions using an integrated approach, it urges the executive body of the EU to avoid setting any final mandatory CO2 target before 2015. From then on, however, an average target of 125 g/km of CO2 emissions for new passenger cars would have to be achieved. Moreover, the same report calls on the Commission to develop a system under which cars would be permitted to emit more greenhouse gases if these are the result of legally binding safety measures. This would mean a less stringent target than the 120 g/km by 2012 proposed by the European Commission last month.
CO2 reduction costs lower than estimated
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While the European car company association ACEA welcomed the proposed 2015 deadline, members of the Green party and environmental groups harshly criticized any delay in introducing targets. This, they argue, would undermine all efforts to tackle climate change rapidly. MEP Chris Davies, author of a similar report adopted last year, expressed its disappointment that the new proposal would base emission limits once again on the weight rather than on a car's actual "carbon footprint".
At the same time, international debt-rating firm Moody's launched a report concluding that car manufacturers would face much lower costs to meet the proposed CO2 standards than what they are projecting. Benefitting from economies of scales and cost-sharing with suppliers in the area of R&D, the cost for complying with the 120 g/km CO2 limit by 2012 would range between 300 and 1,000 euros per vehicle. This is significantly less than the 1,300 euros estimated by the European Commission, and the 3,650 euros claimed by the European carmakers association.
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More information:
› CARS 21 report - adopted text, 15 January 2008
› Read the article: "EU Parliament votes for more efficient car A/C", 24 Oct 2007
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