19 December 2007 - The European Commission today presented its long awaited proposal for legislation to reduce CO₂ emissions from cars. Caroline Lucas - Green MEP for the South East - warned that both the emissions limit values proposed by the Commission and the parameter for determining these values will ensure that the legislation falls far short of achieving the necessary CO₂ emissions reductions from cars, while insufficient infringement penalties risk making the legislation a toothless instrument.

Commenting on the proposal, Green MEP Caroline Lucas said:

"Just days after taking credit for leadership on climate issues at Bali, the European Commission has failed the first test of its proclaimed new commitment. It has fallen at the first hurdle. How can we expect other developed countries to make serious emissions reductions if the EU is not willing to introduce the necessary measures to achieve the reductions to which it is supposedly committed?

“Evidence has shown that only with strict and binding CO₂ emissions limit values, starting with a 120 g/km limit for 2012, will the EU achieve the necessary reduction in emissions from cars to ensure it can meet its climate targets (1). The proposed ‘integrated approach’, under which carmakers would have to meet 130 g/km limit with 10 g/km to come from other measures, is a sop to the car industry, which would be impossible to monitor and enforce, allowing car-makers to shirk responsibility for tackling the pollution from the cars they manufacture. Worse, the lack of mid- and long-term targets creates uncertainty for manufacturers and potential investors, and will put the brakes on further reductions.

"The weight-based parameter chosen by the Commission to apply these limit values across different vehicle types is another massive flaw, which plays into the hands of those manufacturers bent on producing heavy, polluting gas guzzlers. The development and marketing of bigger, dirtier cars by the German car industry has undercut emissions reductions from other carmakers. Assigning limit values based on car weight rewards this environmental irresponsibility and provides no incentive for manufacturers to reduce the weight of their vehicles (2).

"Financial penalties for exceeding the limit values must be considerably higher than the cost of CO₂ reduction measures. Unfortunately, those penalties proposed by the Commission today (20 euro per gram exceeded until 2012 and only rising thereafter) fall far short of what experts argue is necessary to ensure that manufacturers make the necessary reductions (between 100-150 euro per gram exceeded).

ENDS

Editors notes:

(1) An independent study, commissioned by the Greens/EFA group and presented in October, gives a comparison of the actual CO₂ emissions reductions that would be achieved through the different emissions limit values currently under debate and reveals that only with a 120 g/km limit for 2012 and a strong follow-up limit value in 2020, will the necessary emissions reductions from passenger cars be achieved. The study also highlighted that the parameters for deriving limit values for vehicle types must provide an incentive to reduce vehicle weight - hence a weight-based parameter cannot work. In addition, financial penalties for exceeding the limit values must be considerably higher than the cost of CO₂ reduction measures.