Parliamentary report calls for lower speed on new cars

No new car capable of travelling at more than 162 kilometres per hour (km/h) should be allowed on the EU market after 2012, according to a European Parliament report to be discussed next week.

The report, from UK Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, says that this speed restriction would decrease fuel use, curb carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and make top of the range vehicles more affordable.

Davies says that exemptions from the 162km/h rule should only be allowed for law enforcement, military and emergency vehicles. Members of the environment committee will discuss his report next Tuesday (26 June).

The report sets out Parliament’s view on European Commission plans to reduce CO2 emissions from cars. The Commission this January said it would propose legislation forcing average new car emissions down to 130 grams per kilometre (g/km) by 2012, with a further 10g reduction to be achieved through non-technological developments including driver behaviour and biofuels.

Average new car emissions in 2005 - the last year for which verified data are available - were 162g/km.

Davies says that car companies will not have time to bring this down to 130g by 2012. "Manufacturers require between five and seven years to make changes to vehicle design in the most economical measure," says the report, which goes on to reject the Commission proposals as "too costly".

The deadline should instead be 2015, says Davies. But he also suggests lowering the emission reduction target to 120g/km by technological measures alone. This would then fall to 95g/km by 2020 and 70g/km by 2025.

Environmentalists have welcomed the speed restriction, which they say would free manufacturers to design lighter, more fuel-efficient cars. They also approve of bringing the emission reduction target down to 120g/km, as originally planned by Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.

But T&E, a conservation group, says that carmakers should be required to meet the target by 2012. "The emission reductions can be met with existing technologies," said Jos Dings, director of T&E. "We are very unhappy about the political signal this report is sending. Moving the deadline to 2015 would create a regulatory gap for another eight years."

ACEA, the European car industry federation, welcomed Davies’s proposal to give them more time for technical changes, but said that the targets suggested were not feasible.

Sigrid de Vries from ACEA said that the average car in the EU would be on the road for eight years, limiting the impact of future technical changes on CO2 emissions.

"We urge everyone to focus not only on new cars and new technologies," she said. "In our view an integrated approach - including changes to driver behaviour, fuel type and traffic management - will achieve better results for the environment and the economy."

De Vries said that the speed capability restriction was "political symbolism, not a real contribution to finding a solution".

• MEPs on the environment committee will also discuss a report on including flights in the European emissions trading scheme (ETS). The report, by German centre-right MEP Peter Liese, says that operators of intercontinental and intra-EU flights should all start buying and selling permits for CO2 emissions in 2010.

The Commission proposed bringing emissions from flights within the EU into the ETS from 2011 and emissions from all flights using EU airports one year later.

Liese says that a single, early date is needed, given growing fears over climate change and the risk of discriminating against EU tourist destinations

"It is difficult to explain that, for example, a flight from the UK to Morocco is not covered by the [emissions trading] scheme while a flight from the UK to the Canary Islands will be covered," says the report.

No new car capable of travelling at more than 162 kilometres per hour (km/h) should be allowed on the EU market after 2012, according to a European Parliament report to be discussed next week.