Empty promises prompt carbon law

The European Commission’s decision, announced in February, to propose legislation setting binding targets for emission levels from passenger cars, did not come out of the blue. In the late 1990s the carmakers struck a deal with the European Commission and the national governments, agreeing a voluntary target for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new cars placed on the EU market. The voluntary code was adopted by European, Korean and Japanese manufacturers selling vehicles in the EU.

The Japanese and Korean carmakers said that they would aim to bring average emissions down to 140 grams per kilometre (g/km) by 2009, one year later than European carmakers. According to the Commission, Japanese and Korean emissions in 2005 stood at 170g/km and 168g/km, respectively. EU emissions were 161g/km.

As it became clearer that the carmakers were not going to meet the voluntary targets, lobbying and counter-lobbying intensified during 2006 for the Commission to propose binding targets. When, after a fierce internal battle between the enterprise and environment departments, the Commission unveiled its intentions earlier this year, it suggested legislation to bring average new-car emissions down to 120 grams per kilometre (g/km) by 2012. Sensitive to the carmakers’ complaint that they were being asked to shoulder the entire burden, the Commission said that the carmakers would be expected to make a reduction to 130g/km through changes to engine and car design. Further reductions would come from changes to fuel, to tyre pressure and driver behaviour.

The final proposal in all its detail will not emerge until later in the year, but one of the arguments that is already circulating is whether the European Union is right to be setting its own standards rather than aiming for global standards on emissions reductions.

The argument made during the discussions of the EU’s CARS21 high-level group, by Max Mosley of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile among others, is that making more demands of the European car-market would be costly and the environment might be better served by getting some CO2 standards, albeit less stringent ones, to apply outside the EU across the world.

The World Forum for the Harmonization of the Vehicle Standards, which is an off-shoot of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, would be a possible route. Many other vehicle standards are agreed through this body.

The majority of countries outside Europe have traditionally favoured fuel efficiency standards over EU-style CO2 targets. Fuel efficiency rules are usually adopted as a way to reduce oil consumption, but have the side-effect of bringing down CO2 emissions.

The European Commission’s decision, announced in February, to propose legislation setting binding targets for emission levels from passenger cars, did not come out of the blue. In the late 1990s the carmakers struck a deal with the European Commission and the national governments, agreeing a voluntary target for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new cars placed on the EU market. The voluntary code was adopted by European, Korean and Japanese manufacturers selling vehicles in the EU.