CO2 Emissions from New Passenger Cars as of 2020 (Regulation)

In order to reduce CO2 emissions in the transport sector, the EU introduced CO2 thresholds for new passenger cars. These thresholds will be tightened to 95 grams CO2 per kilometre as of 2020. Now the Commission proposes measures in order to achieve the CO2 targets valid as of 2020 for a manufacturer’s passenger car fleet as neutral as possible from the point of view of competition. For this purpose the formula determining the specific CO2 emissions for manufacturers shall be modified and benefits for passenger cars with particularly low CO2 emissions shall be reduced.

cepPolicyBrief

Emission targets per kilometre driven cannot ensure the targeted reduction in CO2 emissions. Therefore, it would have been better to integrate road transport into the European emissions trading system (EU ETS) instead, with which a politically prescribed CO2 reduction can be accurately achieved. As of 2020, the Regulation will place without any objective reason a double burden on manufacturers of heavy passenger cars. Furthermore, the additional incentives to develop passenger cars with particularly low CO2 emissions are too small to be of any effective use.