EU countries have reached political agreement on legislation that will effectively ban the production of new cars with internal combustion engines and completely eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from transport.
As one of the world’s largest trading platforms and home to some of the largest car manufacturers, the EU’s decision will have a huge impact on global transport, pushing the industry even harder towards an all-electric future. The law must now be formally approved by the EU Council and Parliament (although only minor changes are expected).
We did it, we hebben een deal! Vanaf 2035 zijn nieuwe auto's en bestelwagens klimaatvriendelijk en worden schone auto’s toegankelijker voor iedereen. pic.twitter.com/BYsTErbwaZ
— Jan Huitema (@jhuitema) October 27, 2022
The main requirements of the law are for new passenger cars to reduce CO2 emissions by 55% and vans by 50% by 2030 (both compared to 2021 levels). By 2035, these vehicles must reduce CO2 emissions by 100%.
Manufacturers that build fewer than 10,000 cars or 22,000 vans annually will only be required to meet the final target by 2035. This is the so-called ‘Ferrari Clause’, designed to protect small carmakers who produce fewer models per year than the big ones.
The agreement also includes a non-binding proposal to allow the production of vehicles that ‘run exclusively on CO2-neutral fuels’ (also known as ‘e-fuels’) after 2035, as long as these vehicles go ‘beyond fleet standards.’
Some critics believe the proposal is a serious loophole; others say it is just a way to appease certain factions in Europe and will not affect the main aim of the legislation to eliminate emissions from EU vehicles. Also, some point out that the condition that these vehicles must be ‘beyond fleet standards’ means that only special vehicles such as ambulances and fire engines will be able to take advantage of this exemption.
Dutch politician Jan Guitema, who negotiated the deal on behalf of the European Parliament, praised the document and said it would ‘create clarity for the automotive industry and stimulate innovation and investment for car manufacturers’.
‘I am pleased that we have reached agreement with the Council on an ambitious revision of the 2030 targets and have supported the 100% emissions reduction target by 2035. This is critical to achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and making clean driving more accessible to our citizens,’ Guitema said in a press statement.
The legislation is the first major part of the EU project “Fit for 55” (which the European Commission first announced in July 2021), aimed at reducing EU emissions by 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990 – at the time of the presentation of the initiative, emissions in Europe were at equal to 76% of this value) with the ultimate goal of making the EU carbon-neutral by 2050. Other parts of the package will address issues such as land use, creating cleaner fuels for aviation and shipping, and offer new funding for the development of renewable energy technologies.
The German automobile industry sharply criticized the initiative – the industry association VDA pointed to the lack of charging stations for electric cars in Europe, and the association of car importers VDIK called for faster development of charging infrastructure. And this is despite the fact that, to support the transition to electric cars, the European Commission included in the plan to stimulate the development of charging infrastructure — by 2025, EU member states must equip public charging stations at a distance of no more than 60 kilometers on the main highways. Ultimately, the EU expects 3.5 million new charging stations by 2030 and 16.3 million by 2050.
At the same time, there are countries that are ready to abandon cars with internal combustion engines even earlier. So, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Israel are aiming for 2030. And Norway, which has long sold more electric models than cars with internal combustion engines, has every chance to win this race – earlier there was talk of 2025, but many believe that the last fossil fuel car in this country will be sold much earlier (this year or in 2023). In January 2022, only 387 cars with internal combustion engines were sold in Norway.
Meanwhile, other parts of the world are also working on their own bans on new internal combustion engines. The UK currently plans to ban the sale of diesel vehicles by 2030, while California plans to ban new internal combustion engines by 2035 (other US states may follow suit in later years).
