Partial victory for Dimas in CO2 spat

Neither environmentalists nor carmakers were happy as the European Commission proposed to bring down carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new cars. A strategy proposing that changes to car design should bring average CO2 emission down to 130 grams per kilometre (g/km) by 2012 finally emerged yesterday (7 February).

But the high-profile political in-fighting over legislation obliging carmakers to cut emissions - which for the moment Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas seems to have edged over his enterprise counterpart Günter Verheugen - at least illustrates the increasing importance of climate change policies in Europe.

Until just a few years ago legally binding environmental targets for the powerful EU car industry were unthinkable. Setting that target at cuts of 18% over the next five years was more than most expected six months ago.

And, indeed, Commission officials could be heard complaining about the difficulty of tackling climate change as soon as Dimas announced his intention to legislate on car emissions last November.

Current emissions from new EU cars are estimated to be 162g/km, well off an existing voluntary target of 140g/km by next year.

A further 10g/km reduction could be met, suggests the Commission, through a range of ‘complementary measures’. These include energy efficiency improvements and an increased use of plant-based biofuels.

The strategy will be followed by a proposal for legislation before summer next year.

But media attention has for months focused on the violently opposed ambitions of Dimas and Verheugen. Dimas wanted a 120g/km target for the car industry alone, in line with ambitions agreed by ministers in 1995. Verheugen meanwhile hoped to escape legislation altogether and continue with a revised voluntary agreement.

On balance, Dimas might seem to have ended up with a deal closer to his heart than to his German colleague’s. Presenting the strategy, he called it "the most ambitious programme anywhere in the world" for cutting CO2 emissions from cars.

But this has not satisfied environmentalists, who have been demanding climate-change action for far longer than the Commission. Accusations of Brussels failing its first concrete climate change challenge have come flooding in.

"It is very disappointing that the Commission has proposed this just days after the UN IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] called for tough action to combat climate change," said Jos Dings of Transport and Environment, a conservation group.

"The strategy waters down an 11-year-old climate change target and rewards industry for a decade of inaction," he said.

Verheugen on the other hand was adamant the strategy will not lead to job losses and gave assurances that car industry jobs are safe in all 27 member states.

EU car manufacturers’ representatives ACEA begged to differ. "Putting the burden of reducing CO2 emissions mainly on the shoulders of the car industry means choosing the most expensive and least cost-effective strategy for society," according to a statement from the industry group. "It will lead to a loss of jobs and a relocation of production outside Europe."

One Commission official said that the 130g/km proposal probably did not concede too much to either industry or environmental demands. "If we’ve upset everyone, it probably means we got it right," said the official.

Similarly, the high profile Dimas-Verheugen spat at least shows both commissioners are taking the new climate change policy focus seriously.

But for environmentalists, heavy lobbying from Germany might offer the best explanation of the strategy’s final shape. German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week said she would block any attempt to impose a 120g/km target on the car industry alone.

Whether or not Berlin nurses a grudge against the strategy proposed yesterday could become clear in the next few days, when details of a revised national allocation plan (NAP) for CO2 emission permits for Germany are expected to emerge.

The Commission says Germany’s original NAP proposal offered industry too many carbon credits for the second round of the EU emission trading scheme, set to run in 2008-12.

The chances of substantial revisions were slim if Germany felt its powerful car industry was threatened by climate change policies. But perhaps the proposed car emission strategy will make Berlin happier to try for heavy CO2 cuts in other industry sectors.

Neither environmentalists nor carmakers were happy as the European Commission proposed to bring down carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new cars. A strategy proposing that changes to car design should bring average CO2 emission down to 130 grams per kilometre (g/km) by 2012 finally emerged yesterday (7 February).