Environment: European Parliament, new goals approved for reducing CO2 emissions from new cars and light commercial vehicles

The European Parliament finally endorsed the new goals to reduce CO2 emissions from new cars and light commercial vehicles, in keeping with the climate goals of the European Green Deal. As from 2035, such vehicles “should not produce any CO2 emissions as of 2035”. This has been announced in a notice by the European Parliament. With 340 votes for, 279 votes against and 21 abstentions, the MEPs endorsed the agreement reached by the European Council. The goal is “reducing the emissions of such vehicles by 100% less compared to 2021”. By 2030, the goal is to reduce emissions by 55% for cars and by 50% for vans. The law will be enforced in these stages: by 2025, the European Commission will “present a methodology to assess and report data on CO2 emissions throughout the full life-cycle of cars and vans sold on the EU market”, which may be accompanied by other legislative proposals; by December 2026, the EU Commission “will monitor the gap between the emission limit values and the real-world fuel and energy consumption data and will report on a methodology for adjusting the manufacturers' specific CO2 emissions”. “Manufacturers responsible for small production volumes in a calendar year (1 000 to 10 000 new cars or 1 000 to 22 000 new vans) may be granted a derogation until the end of 2035”. The current mechanism to promote zero- and low-emission vehicles (ZLEV) will be adapted to the expected sales trends.
Valentina Bombelli