EU Lawmakers Seek More Time for Car CO2 Cuts
Date: 16-Jan-08
Country: FRANCE
In a non-binding report, the European Parliament said manufacturers should reduce the average level of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by cars to 125 grams per km by 2015, rather than to 120 grams by 2012 as proposed by the European Commission last month.
The Strasbourg-based assembly will later negotiate with the EU's 27 governments on the final shape of the legislation, aimed at cutting output of the main gas blamed for global warming.
"Car manufacturers need years to develop a car. Binding legislation has to consider that. Our CO2 targets have to be of course ambitious but also realistic," said the report's author, German liberal Jorgo Chatzimarkakis.
The EU has committed itself to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. Average car emissions in 2006 were about 160 g/km.
Delaying the targets by three years would not jeopardise the EU's overall aims in cutting greenhouse gas emissions, Chatzimarkakis said.
"We need to give carmakers time but if they don't meet legislation then they should be heavily penalised," he told a news conference.
It was the second time the EU assembly had backed a later date for CO2 car emissions targets.
In October last year, lawmakers pushed for similar goals in a non-binding report ahead of the Commission's proposals.
CLEAR MESSAGE
"We have sent a clear message to the Commission ... We should not be overly ambitious to the extent that at the end of the day implementation proves to be very disappointing," Chatzimarkakis said.
The Commission's proposal, which envisages fines, has especially angered Germany and its carmakers, which tend to produce vehicles with big engines.
German producers of heavier luxury vehicles such as Porsche , with by far the highest emissions of any major carmaker, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, could face billions of euros in fines unless they change course fast.
To become law, the Commission's draft must be approved by a qualified majority of member states and a simple majority in parliament.
The European car company association ACEA said parliament was clinging to targets that were "too stringent" but welcomed its stance that more time was needed to meet tough goals.
Environmentalists have criticised any delay in introducing targets, saying there was a gap between what parliamentarians said needed to be done about climate change and what they were actually prepared to do. (Reporting by Marcin Grajewski and Huw Jones; editing by Anthony Barker)
