7:44 am, October 29, 2022
The sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2035 will be banned after a deal was struck between the European Parliament and EU member countries.
It means carmakers will need to cut their CO2 emissions completely by 2035, with no more pure petrol and diesel or hybrids on sale after this date.
The deal confirmed that carmakers will have to sell cars that have a 55 per cent reduced CO2 output from 2030 compared to 2021.
It’s a significant reduction on the 37.5 per cent target that was agreed in 2018.
Manufacturers that build between 1,000 and 10,000 cars a year will have exemptions up until the end of 2035, though.
Pascal Canfin, the chair of the environment committee of the European Parliament, said: ‘This is a historic decision as it sets for the first time a clear decarbonisation pathway – with targets in 2025, 2030 and 2035 and aligned with our goal of climate neutrality by 2050.
‘This sector, which accounts for 16 per cent of European emissions at the moment, will be carbon neutral by 2050.’
This is the first agreement sealed by EU negotiators of the bloc’s ‘Fit for 55’ package set up by the Commission to achieve the EU’s climate goals of cutting emissions of the gases that cause global warming by 55 per cent over this decade.
The EU Parliament said the deal is a ‘clear signal ahead of the UN Cop27 Climate Change Conference that the EU is serious about adopting concrete laws to reach the more ambitious targets set out in the EU Climate Law.’
According to the bloc’s data, transport is the only sector where greenhouse gas emissions have increased in the past three decades, rising 33.5 per cent between 1990 and 2019.
Passenger cars are a major polluter, accounting for 61 per cent of total CO2 emissions from EU road transport.
The EU wants to drastically reduce gas emission from transportation by 2050 and promote electric cars, but a report from the bloc’s external auditor showed last year that the region is lacking the appropriate charging stations.
Greenpeace said the 2035 deadline is too late to limit global warming to below 1.5C.
The green group’s transport campaigner Lorelei Limousin said: ‘The EU is taking the scenic route, and that route ends in disaster.
‘A European 2035 phase-out of fossil fuel-burning cars is not quick enough: New cars with internal combustion engines should be banned by 2028 at the latest.
‘The announcement is a perfect example of where politicians can bask in a feel-good headline that masks the reality of their repeated failures to act on climate.’
The EU Parliament and member states will now have to formally approve the agreement before it comes into force.
