EU backs down on greenhouse gases

From Channel 4 (UK).

The European Commission has backed down on its plans to enforce a 25% cut in carbon dioxide emissions from new cars by 2012, but has instead set a target of a 12% reduction.

The new measures will bring the average new car's emissions down to 130g/km, compared to the 162g/km average of 2005; campaigners had hoped for a 120g/km target, but pressure from the carmakers and industry organisations has forced a reassessment.

ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, says that this ruling is 'in spite of' a trend for consumers to choose larger, more powerful cars, and despite cars needing to become larger and heavier in order to meet EU-imposed safety regulations. It even says that the ruling will 'lead to a loss of jobs and the relocation of production outside the EU region', arguing that passenger cars only account for 11% of carbon dioxide emissions in the EU anyway.

Industry bodies also claim that reducing congestion and better-educating drivers would be more cost-effective in reducing emissions than introducing expensive new technologies.

The EC says that the new target can be met thanks to an increased use of biofuels, improved tyres and revised gear ratios and transmission technologies, and would not be too difficult or expensive to achieve: Estimates on how much meeting the new regulations would add to the price of a new car vary from €2,500 to just €600.

Environmental groups have criticised the compromise; a Friends of the Earth spokesman said today: 'Car manufacturers are failing to take climate change seriously and are a long way short of meeting their voluntary target (of 140g/km by 2008) for cutting emissions from new cars.'

The Transport and Environment group said that the carmakers had been let 'off the hook', and that transport is the only sector which has increased its C02 emissions in Europe in the last 15 years.

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