The EU has announced an agreement to cut car emissions by over a third by 2030 – but has faced opposition from carmakers for being ‘unrealistic’. On the other side, environmental groups have said the target is not enough to meet climate change targets.
Under the agreement, which aims to move the industry towards electric vehicles and other alternatives to diesel and petrol, EU countries will be aiming to cut CO2 emissions from new cars by 37.5% by 2030 compared with 2021, and emissions from new vans will need to be 31% lower. An interim target of a 15% cut for cars and vans by 2025 has also been put in place.
Erik Jonnaert, the secretary general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), argued the targets “will be extremely demanding on Europe’s auto industry”, with a “seismic impact” on jobs.
However, Maroš Šefčovič, the European commission’s vice-president for energy union, said the move was “another credible step in the implementation of the Paris agreement but also another decisive step in support of the long-term competitiveness of European industry”.
Europe’s aim is for its transport industry to be climate neutral in the second half of the century, while countries including France and the UK have announced plans to ban sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040. Carbon emissions from the EU’s transport sector increased by 28.3% between 1990 and 2016, according to the European Environment Agency.
But the take-up of electric vehicles in Europe has been sluggish up to now. According to ACEA, electric vehicles made up 1.5% of all cars sold in the EU last year.
Transport and Environment, a Brussels-based thinktank, said the reduction in emissions would not be enough to limit climate change. Greg Archer, the organisation’s clean vehicles director, said: “Europe is shifting up a gear in the race to produce zero-emission cars. The new law means by 2030 around a third of new cars will be electric- or hydrogen-powered. That’s progress but it’s not fast enough to hit our climate goals.”