EU governments give automakers breathing room on emissions

By James Kanter
Published: October 31, 2008

BRUSSELS: European governments agreed Friday to delay a deadline for carmakers to comply with rules on emissions, ending months of gridlock but setting the stage for further negotiations with lawmakers over the final shape of the legislation.
Carmakers will have to start complying with the new emissions target in 2012 for 60 percent to 65 percent of their vehicles, according to a report from a meeting of European Union government officials seen by the International Herald Tribune.
The auto industry would then have until 2015 before their entire fleets would have to meet the target, the report said. A previous plan envisioned conformance by 2012.
The concession came after fierce lobbying from the carmakers, whose representatives at talks here Wednesday called for a loosening of regulatory requirements and for €40 billion, or $51 billion, in low-interest loans to develop cleaner technologies. The European auto industry argues that it is vulnerable both to a looming economic slowdown and increased environmental burdens.
That message appeared to have been accepted, as reflected by the agreement Friday. The accord is a less stringent approach than the one suggested by the environment committee of the European Parliament in a vote in September.
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The committee had favored sticking to proposals mandating that the average new car from an entire fleet should meet the target by 2012, a move that won widespread praise from environmental campaigners.
The target, first proposed by the European Commission, would require average fleets of new cars to emit no more than 130 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer with a further 10-gram reduction coming from more efficient tires and other improvements.
That compares with a current European average of 158 grams of CO2 per kilometer. The overall target of 120 grams would be the first legally binding carbon dioxide emission standard for new cars in Europe.
But the proposal unleashed a fierce battle, bringing powerful lobbying into play from industry and government in some of the biggest economies in Europe.
German automakers said they would not be able to meet the target for 2012 without significant concessions. French producers already make lightweight and efficient cars, but they were skeptical about setting a long-term target that they feared could be too ambitious and would require them to take additional, expensive technological steps.
Even so, diplomats overcame many of those differences this past week, including discord over long-term targets.
According to the report, diplomats agreed to fix the long-term target for reducing CO2 from cars at close to 95 grams, but with the caveat that agreement would be open to review ahead of 2013, to examine whether the long-term target was technically possible.
EU diplomats also agreed to ease penalties on automakers for breaking the rules.
Instead of paying a maximum of €95 for each excess gram of carbon dioxide by 2015, car manufacturers would pay €80. For manufacturers within 3 grams of the target, that penalty would be €25 and for those within 6 grams it would be €40.
Beginning in 2016, the penalty would rise to €95, but that would be reduced to €25 for manufacturers within 3 grams of the target.
That penalty would be reduced further, to €20, for any cars with emissions lower than 130 grams.