The European Council reiterates the European Union’s firm independent commitment to achieve at least a 20% reduction of greenhouse gases by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels), as agreed by the European Council in March. The Council stresses that all sectors should contribute their effort.

For the transport sector, this means concretely that the target of 120 grammes CO2 per kilometre should be achieved by binding legislation, which is to replace the voluntary efforts by the car manufacturers which haven’t yielded the desired amount of emissions reduction.

The document stresses that laws designed to reduce emissions should be “competitively neutral taking into account the diversity of the European automobile manufacturers.” What that means, even deputy spokesman of the permanent representation to the European Union, Mr. Rainer Rudolph, cannot explain. He stresses the preliminary nature of the draft for the first meeting.

Obviously the paragraph reflects the special difficulty that some car manufacturers experience in reducing car emissions, because their customers prefer powerful and heavy vehicles. German and Swedish car makers are the examples often quoted.

This is one of the obstacles the Working Group will have to tackle in drafting legislation for the meeting of the Environment Council at the end of June.

More information:

Draft Council Conclusions (as .pdf download)