After banning the sale of thermal engine cars after 2035 as part of the fight against global warming and CO emissions2, the Europeans want to spare players in the sector. Several Member States, including France and Germany, but also the Commission are monitoring this, arguing that automobile manufacturers must now concentrate on implementing this industrial and social revolution.
On Thursday 10 November, the Community executive presented a draft law on new pollutant emission limits – the so-called “Euro 7” standards – which will not require too great an effort from them and which, in certain respects, is even less ambitious than what their lobbyist, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) proposed.
Thus, the text only very slightly raises the requirements in terms of nitrogen oxide or carbon monoxide emissions for cars. However, the ACEA considered that it was possible to lower their limit to 35 milligrams per kilometer, for example, for the former (compared to 60 for petrol cars and 80 for diesel today), insofar as a vast majority of vehicles already display such performance.
The Commission has stopped the slider at 60 milligrams per kilometer for all light vehicles that will leave the factories from 1is July 2025, and few Member States, apart from the Netherlands and a few others, have campaigned for a tougher standard. “After the ‘dieselgate’, manufacturers made major efforts and the rise in power of electric vehicles will contribute to a reduction in emissions”explains a senior European official.
“The Commission could be more ambitious”
“It is difficult to ask car manufacturers to invest in electric and thermal at the same time”, admits Pascal Canfin, President of the Environment Committee of the European Parliament. But, he continues, “Air pollution kills tens of thousands of people every year. The Commission could be more ambitious”. “The system was lax until now, manufacturers have long circumvented it. It would not be foolish to tighten the screw on the level of emission constraints”believes for his part Philippe Lamberts, president of the Greens group in the European Parliament.
The Commission defends itself by explaining that it is now asking manufacturers to produce cleaner cars on short trips. The community executive also wants these rules to be valid longer: they would be relaxed when the car has traveled more than 200,000 kilometers or is more than ten years old, compared to 100,000 kilometers and five years at present.
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