Emission performance standards: new passenger cars and new light commercial vehicles

On 16 May, the ENVI committee will consider the draft report on the EC proposal on post-2020 CO2 emission standards for new passenger cars and vans. The targets, based on the new WLTP test, are set for the EU-wide fleet as % reductions of 15% in 2025 and 30% in 2030 respectively compared to the average of the specific emission targets for 2021. The proposal also includes a "bonus" mechanism to incentivise zero- and low-emission vehicles, by setting benchmarks of 15% and 30% for 2025 and 2030.

The draft report seeks to step up the proposal's ambition to bring it more in line with the long-term Union and Paris targets by boosting the CO2 targets for 2025 & 2030 to 25% and 50% respectively and the ZEV/LEV benchmarks to 20% and 50% respectively, while also introducing a "malus" aspect to this mechanism. It further deletes both the mass utility parameter and the derogations for OEMs with 10,000-300,000 vehicles per year. It also seeks to ensure the real-world representativeness of emissions measured at type approval by requesting the Commission to develop a real-world CO2 test. Exceedances are to be measured using data from fuel consumption meters and a not-to-exceed limit is introduced to ensure that discrepancies between lab and on the road values are kept under control. Last but not least, the draft sets up the framework for life-cycle emissions analysis by demanding OEMs to report such data as of 2025 and the Commission to provide the analysis by end of 2026.