The EU has settled the details of a phase-out of new CO2-emitting cars from 2035. The revised CO2 standards will also reduce average emissions for new cars by 55pc and new vans by 50pc by 2030.
The deal ensures that all new cars and vans registered in Europe will be zero-emission by 2035. The provisional agreement requires formal adoption by both the European Parliament and the EU's Council of Ministers ahead of publication in the bloc's official journal.
The agreement, between negotiators for EU countries and the European Parliament, sends a strong signal to industry and consumers on the shift to zero-emission mobility, said European Commission executive vice-president Frans Timmermans, who oversees EU climate and energy policy. "The speed at which this change has happened over the past few years is remarkable," he said.
The agreement effectively bans the sale of traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) said. "It means that the European Union will now be the first and only world region to go all-electric," said ACEA president Oliver Zipse, who is also chief executive of German automaker BMW. Europe must now work together on policies to guarantee access to raw materials for e-mobility as well as make electric vehicles (EVs) affordable and enable fast easy charging, ACEA director-general Sigrid de Vries added.
The agreement includes some language that references possible future use of renewable transport fuels.
"We managed to steer the negotiations away from including synthetic fuels as an alternative to zero-emissions vehicles, as those fuels are expensive, inefficient and scarce," Dutch green member of parliament Bas Eickhout said. The deal strengthens rewards for car manufacturers in terms of their percentage of low- or zero-emissions vehicles sold, he added. "This will increase the percentage of electric cars manufacturers sell by 2030," said Eickhout, who negotiated with EU countries on behalf of parliament.
A group of more than 70 EU carmakers, fuel suppliers, industry and biofuels associations last week unsuccessfully called for guarantees in the law to clearly enable sales of ICE cars using CO2-neutral fuels from 2035. Legislators only agreed on a non-binding explanatory recital referencing a review and possible legislation, if appropriate, for zero-emission fuels.
The future CO2 standards regulation does not include sustainable biofuels in the pathway towards emission reduction targets. But Xavier Noyon, secretary-general of the European Biodiesel Board, does see the wording as opening the door to establishing a "complementary route" for CO2-neutral fuels. "While transition towards full electric mobility takes time, sustainable biodiesel offers immediate short-, medium- and long-term reductions in GHG emissions," Noyon said.
The provisional agreement calls on the commission to come out with a proposal for registering vehicles running exclusively on CO2-neutral fuels after 2035, general manager at LPG association Liquid Gas Europe Ewa Abramiuk-Lete said. "With the majority of autogas coming from retrofitting, it will remain a part of the transport solution after 2035. Autogas has recently witnessed a revival and can contribute to vehicle decarbonisation as an affordable option," Abramiuk-Lete said.
