 |
| The Audi TT - - a product of VW Group, Europe's top carmaker |
The European Commission plans to announce carbon dioxide emissions cuts for the motor industry on Wednesday as manufacturers in particular from Germany, lobby to ease the potential pain for them.
EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas is seeking a C02 emissions target of 120 grams per kilometre by 2012, for cars sold in Europe.
"For the car sector, as one of the main emitters of C02, legislation is now necessary to reach the Community objective of 120 gr C02/km. The scientific case presented today makes it clear that we must take firm action to reduce emissions. I am therefore pleased that the Commission will adopt the decision to introduce legislation for C02 emission from cars next week," Dimas said at the weekend.
The EU's objective is to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Beyond this threshold, the risk of irreversible large scale events increases dramatically.
Last month, the Commission put forward a set of proposals to ensure that the 2 degrees objective can be met.
"We demonstrate that worldwide greenhouse gas emissions need to peak around 2020 and then fall by as much as 50% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels if we are to reach the 2 degree objective. Such ambitions can only be achieved through global action. And global action requires continued leadership from the EU and developed countries as a whole. In particular, we expect the US as the world first emitter of greenhouse gases to take action. The European Commission proposes that developed countries adopt a greenhouse gas emissions reduction objective of 30% below 1990 levels by 2020," Dimas said.
The German car industry opposes the Commission's planned target for the industry, saying production of cars would shrink and jobs would move elsewhere.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said last week that she opposes a blanket solution for the industry.
"The diversity of the automobile industry must be respected," Merkel said.
At the weekend, she said in comments reported by Germany's Bild am Sonntag weekly that while "I support further cuts in carbon dioxide emissions from cars... we need ambitious, but different goals for reductions in the different markets for various automobiles".
"If Germany blocks the rest of Europe doesn't play along. And if Europe doesn't play along, neither does the rest of the world," Dimas said, according to media reports.
"In that case, we might as well pack our bags," he said.
It's reported that the Commission has already had to delay the announcement by two weeks because of a dispute between Dimas and Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, of Germany.
Last week the Commission adopted a fuel quality directive that resulted in claims from the oil industry that it had caved-in to lobbying from carmakers. The directive requires petrol to contain at least 5 per cent ethanol from 2001, with the level rising to 10 per cent by 2020.
The London Times reports that the heads of BMW, Volkswagen and DaimlerChrysler have demanded in a letter to José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, that the proposed new emissions standard be withdrawn, claiming that the German industry, which makes most of its profits from large cars, would be penalised unfairly.
The letter says that the new standard would force German car factories to close.
It states: "These measures would amount to a massive industrial political intervention at the expense of the entire European, and especially the German, automobile industry.
"The direct consequence would be the migration of a large number of jobs from the automobile manufacturers and the supplier industry in Germany."
The newspaper says that the companies also persuaded Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, to lobby on their behalf. The letter was sent on January 26, four days before Barroso intervened in the debate over new-car emissions to insist on a compromise that would benefit the Germans.
While Dimas has agreed to set the average emissions from new vehicles to 120g of carbon dioxide per kilometre by 2012, the average across Europe in 2005 was 162g/km and it has fallen only slightly since.
Under the compromise, to be announced Wednesday, the Commission is expected to accept the car industry's demand for an "integrated approach".
The Times says that this reduces the pressure on manufacturers to alter their designs by finding other ways of reducing emissions, such as increasing the take-up of biofuels, educating motorists about fuel-efficient driving and requiring roads to be smoother.
Jos Dings, director of Transport & Environment, a Brussels-based environmental campaign group, said: "What we are seeing is mindless scaremongering from the German car industry.
"The problem has been that most car makers have not cut emissions fast enough, and that's why regulation is now urgently needed."
