The European Parliament’s environmental committee voted against delaying the new emission standards introduction dates. This means that, starting with 2012, new cars will not be permitted to emit more than 130 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometre starting in 2012, and the limit will go down to 95 grammes by 2020, subject to a review in 2014. The current CO2 emissions allowed are 158 grammes per kilometre.
“It’s a defeat for the corporate lobbyists who were trying to get the committee to take a step backwards in their greenhouse gas reductions,” said Chris Davies, a British liberal MEP. This decision affects the entire auto industry, especially the carmakers that produce large-engined and high-emission vehicles, such as BMW or Porsche. Carmakers had lobbied against the European Commission’s proposals, requesting to to extend the deadline to 2015, reduce penalties for non-compliance and allow carmakers to exempt some brands.
However, the European Comission approved a set of rules that allow carmakers to use “eco-innovations” such as low-rolling-resistance tyres when calculating their CO2 cuts, and also approved special arrangements for low-volume manufacturers such as Lotus, Aston Martin and Jaguar and Land Rover.
Carmakers are still not satisfied, claiming that about 60 percent of the cars produced in 2012 are either on sale now or in the final stage of development and saying that the deadline was unachievable, given the industry’s long product cycles.
Source: Financial Times
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