Emission impossible

Planet comes second in car carbon quarrel

The EU’s motor manufacturers are being pressured - oh so gently - to make less polluting cars.

The industry had kept itself in the driving seat in the late 1990s, entering a ‘voluntary agreement’ with the stated aim of getting the average emissions of new cars down to 140 grammes of CO2 per km by 2008. But they’re missing that - by miles. The actual 2005 figure was 162 grammes. 

Resolving to get tougher, environment commissioner Stavros Dimas recently came up with proposal for a 120 gramme mandatory cap by 2012, averaged across the manufacturer’s model range.

Not tough enough, or soon enough, said environmentalists. But still the industry squealed. So did the EU enterprise commissioner. Britain’s Society of Motor Manufacturers said it would threaten jobs (particularly for specialist manufacturers), add €2,500 (£1,650) to the price of some cars, and result in European makers losing out to imported models. The Germans hated the plan the most - whereas the French and Italians, who do well at the smaller lighter end of the market, were predictably less perturbed.

Dimas countered by saying that the new rules would apply equally to imports, and suggesting tax breaks to help manufacturers make the transition to lower-emission vehicles. But ultimately the commission came back with a watered down compromise, which would set a 2012 target of 130 grammes. Legislative proposals should follow later this year.

You’d think the Europeans could do it, if Californians could. Back in 2004 that state’s legislature adopted a bill with the first ever binding rules to reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions - by a quarter for cars and light trucks, and 18% for SUVs, by 2016. But the carmakers sued to stop it taking effect, and California - like ten other US states which followed suit - has been kept waiting in the courts ever since. Most recently, this January, a federal district judge in Sacramento said he wanted to wait until the Supreme Court had ruled on another case - the state of Massachusetts’s  argument that the federal government has a duty to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. [For California’s new route to de-carbing its car culture, see ‘American Eye ’.] - Roger East

11 March 2007

Roger East