EU Parliament Committee Eases 2035 Car Emissions Target to 87.5%
The European Parliament's environment committee voted on Wednesday, November 4, to ease the European Union's 2035 emissions target for new cars, further softening the bloc's planned ban on new petrol and diesel cars. The committee approved the proposal by 48 votes to 30, with two abstentions, lowering the required reduction in car exhaust emissions to 87.5 percent by 2035, down from 100 percent.
Under rules agreed in 2023, new cars and vans must achieve a 100 percent reduction in fleet-average exhaust carbon dioxide emissions by 2035 compared with 2021 levels, effectively ending sales of new conventional petrol and diesel cars, including hybrids that retain combustion engines. The European Commission late last year proposed softening the car target to a 90 percent reduction; the committee went further, backing an 87.5 percent cut, with a 7.5 percentage point top-up from production using low-carbon steel made in the EU, bringing the effective total to 95 percent. The 2035 target for vans falls from 100 percent to 80 percent, and the committee proposed a 35 percent van target for 2030, compared with 40 percent in the Commission's text and 50 percent under existing rules.
The compromise came from the three centrist groups: the European People's Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats, and Renew Europe. The EPP, the assembly's biggest group, said it had secured a major victory for the car industry by reversing the combustion engine ban. Committees also voted to downgrade mandatory targets for future shares of zero-emission cars in corporate fleets to "aspirational" goals.
The committee vote is not yet law. The full European Parliament is due to vote on the auto package in December, after which negotiations with EU member states will determine the legislation's final form.
Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国交通部大楼（GSM 固定图库）。The U.S. Department of Transportation building. (GSM asset library)
