In order to respect its Kyoto commitments, the EU is trying to reduce CO2 emissions from road transport – a sector that generates more than one fifth of all CO2 emissions in the EU. Passenger cars alone are responsible for more than half of these emissions.
In 1998, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) promised the European Commission to reach average emissions of 140 grams of CO2 per kilometre for new cars by 2008. The final EU target, agreed by Member States, is to reach an average CO2 emission figure of 120 g/km for all new passenger cars by 2010.
EU Commission published on 28 August its annual report monitoring the impact of this commitment on actual emissions level. The document – COM(2006)463- shows that although car manufacturers succeeded in reducing their CO2 emissions by 12.4% since 1995, there is still a strong effort to make in order to reach the objective of the commitment which represents a 25% reduction compared to 1995 levels.
Average emissions are actually still standing at 160 grams per kilometre in 2004, car manufacturers were only down 1% on figures from 2003 and would have to cut CO2 by more that 4% per year until 2010 to reach the target.
The Commission called the industry to substantially increase its efforts and said it will review all options available, including legal ones to move towards the Community’s objective of 120g/km.