The EU is the world’s largest trading bloc and home to key automakers such as Volkswagen and the Mercedes-Benz Group.
The European Parliament has officially approved new vehicle emissions standards that will effectively ban the widespread sale of cars and vans with internal combustion engines in the bloc’s 27 countries by 2035.
340 members of the European Parliament voted “for”, 279 – “against”, and 21 – abstained. An initial agreement on the legislation was reached in October 2022 – the rules stipulate that all new cars and vans sold in the EU must have zero CO2 emissions.
Parliament must match the new CO2 emissions reduction tariffs for new vehicles and global commercial vehicles as part of the EU-Fit for 55 package.
— European Parliament (@Europarl_EN) February 14, 2023
In order to become a full-fledged law, the rules have to go through several more stages: in particular, get the approval of the Council of the EU and publication in the Official Journal of the EU. Reuters reports that the final approval is expected by March, which means that the European Union is already on the path of completely abandoning transport that runs on internal combustion engines.
The proposed rules are part of a project called “Fit for 55”, which aims to reduce emissions in the EU by 55% by 2030 (compared to 2021 levels). Bloomberg notes that road transport accounts for about 1/5 of emissions in the EU countries, meaning that reduction will be key if the bloc plans to become carbon neutral by 2050.
The rules provide for exceptions for companies that produce fewer than 10,000 cars or 20,000 vans a year — they will be required to reach the final target by 2035 (this is the so-called “Ferrari Clause” designed to protect small automakers).
Similar plans are being considered for buses and trucks, which want to cut emissions by 90% by 2040.
“Such goals create clarity for the automotive industry and drive innovation and investment for automakers. Buying and using zero-emission cars will become cheaper for consumers, and the used car market will appear faster. This makes environmental management accessible to everyone,” says Dutch politician Jan Uitema.
The EU’s deadlines are in line with plans announced by governments in other countries. In 2020, the UK announced plans to ban the sale of new non-electric cars by 2030 and new hybrid cars by 2035. California, one of the largest auto markets in the world, wants to ban the sale of new cars with gas engines by 2035 (other US states may follow suit in later years).
By 2030, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Israel want to achieve similar goals, and Norway has every chance to win this race — the country can completely abandon new cars with internal combustion engines from 2023 to 2025 (only 387 were sold in Norway in January 2022 cars with internal combustion engines).
Source: The Verge
