[mailchimp_signup][/mailchimp_signup]The Commission’s original proposal was for the average van to emit no more than 175 grams per kilometre of CO2 by 2016, and a maximum of 135g by 2020. But ministers, MEPs and Commission officials have now agreed a less strict package of measures following intensive lobbying by the automotive industry backed by Germany, Italy and France. The 175g target has been put back from 2016 to 2017, and the 2020 limit looks set to be 147g.
Although the agreement still has to be ratified by MEPs and ministers, it is expected to be approved. MEPs first said they would be happy for 140g by 2020, a position they then relaxed to 145g, and now 147g. They have also proposed weakening the penalties for makers who miss the targets from €120 per gram to €95/g.
T&E policy officer Kerstin Meyer said, ‘The deal that has been agreed behind closed doors will lead to higher fuel costs for millions of small businesses across Europe. This is because the industry said it couldn’t make a 14% improvement in van efficiency over nine years, despite improving car efficiency at more than three times that rate last year. Policymakers must do a better job of holding the industry to account when it makes such claims.’
The vehicle industry says it would be prohibitively expensive to make vans more fuel-efficient, but research carried out for T&E showed that, simply by returning to power levels of 1997, fuel costs and CO2 emissions could be cut by up to 16%.
Meyer added: ‘The automotive industry, which has benefited from billions of euros of taxpayers’ money in subsidies, low interest loans and research grants has once again bullied politicians into getting an easy ride.’
