European Union vehicle emissions regulations
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Revision as of 11:20, 9 April 2008
In the European Union (EU), road transport is one of the few sectors where emissions are still rising rapidly. It contributes about one-fifth of the EU's total emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.
Although there have been significant improvements over recent years in vehicle technology - particularly in fuel efficiency, which translates into lower CO2 emissions - these have not been enough to neutralize the effect of increases in traffic and car size. CO2 emissions from road transport rose by 26% between 1990 and 2004.
Contents |
Original Strategy in 1995
The original strategy for CO2 emissions reduction was proposed by the EC in 1995 with the supported of European Parliament. It has three main subjects:
- Voluntary commitments by car markers
- The automakers need to make voluntary commitments to reduce CO2 emissions from their new cars sold in the EU to an average of 140 g/km by 2008 (for European manufacturers) or 2009 (for Japanese and Korean manufacturers).
- Raising awareness among consumers
- An EU directive requires that each new car display a label showing its fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.<ref>Comparative Colour Coded Label. http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/environment/research/consumerbehaviour/comparativecolourcodedlabels3819?page=6</ref>
- Promoting fuel-efficient cars through fiscal measures
- EC has proposed EU legislation aimed at including a CO2 element in national car taxes.
New Proposal in 2007
To help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet its Kyoto Protocol targets, the EU has agreed that average CO2 emissions from new passenger cars should not exceed 120 grams of CO2 per km by 2012<ref>European Commission. 2007. Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council setting emission performance standards for new passenger cars as part of the Community's integrated approach to reduce CO2 emissions from light-duty vehicles. Dec. 19, 2007. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2007:0856:FIN:EN:HTML</ref>. This target was reconfirmed most recently at last June's meeting of the European Council, when EU leaders revised the EU Sustainable Development Strategy.
| Year | CO2 emission | Remark |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 186 g/km | Data |
| 2004 | 163 g/km | Data (12.4% reduction from 1995) |
| 2008 | 140 g/km | Target |
| by 2012 | 120 g/km* | Target |
Note: * This corresponds to fuel consumption of 4.5 litres per 100 km for diesel cars and 5 l/100 km for petrol cars.
References
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