The European Commission is set to decide this week whether to propose tough new emissions limits on new car models after the automotive industry failed to meet voluntary targets.
EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas is eager to set limits on new passenger cars, but needs the backing of his colleagues in the EU's executive arm to go ahead with the proposal.
Dimas would like to see a new EU law requiring European, Japanese and Korean carmakers to keep emissions from new passenger cars to an average of 120 grams per kilometer traveled from 2012.
The commission is to put several options on the table to reach the target, but the preference is for binding limits, several EU officials said.
However, the issue is not closed and will only be decided on Wednesday by all 27 commissioners during their weekly meeting, the spokesman for EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen stressed.
The German commissioner, who is more favorable towards carmakers and is cool about binding limits, prefers an "integrated approach," where the responsibility for reducing emissions is shared.
He wants tire and fuel companies to also play a part in reaching the 120 grams per kilometer target.
"We should take climate change into account, but also consumers' interests and companies' competitiveness," Verheugen told French business daily Les Echos in an interview published on Friday.
"Let's not forget that luxury cars are one of the strong points of the EU's exports," he said.
"There will not be a legislative proposal from the commission this year," Verheugen added.
Road transport creates more than 20 percent of all CO2 emissions in the EU, with half of that coming from passenger cars.
European, Japanese and Korean automakers have failed to meet a voluntary target to cut average emissions for new cars sold in Europe to 25 percent of 1995 levels.
The commission says that they have only reached 12.4 percent, which the EU executive describes as "not satisfactory."
The industry says that if the targets have not been met it is not their fault, blaming instead "strong customer demand for larger and safer vehicles and disappointing consumer acceptance of extremely fuel-efficient cars."
A study by the European Federation for Transport and Environment found in October that three-quarters of the 20 major car brands sold in Europe had failed to improve fuel efficiency at the rate needed to meet the voluntary target.
Only Fiat, Citroen, Renault, Ford and Peugeot were on track to meet it.
While the deal for the voluntary targets included an agreement not to disclose the performance of individual companies in cutting down emissions, the report named and shamed Volkswagen.
The company, Europe's biggest car brand in terms of sales, was singled out for its poor performance, improving its fuel efficiency at less than half the rate needed, according to the study.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
RSS