Automotive, Commission proposes amendment to protect manufacturers from EU fines in 2025

Brussels – No more annual fines with automatic stop to penalties as early as 2025 but a calculation on a three-year basis to be made at the end of 2027 so as to save “green” ambitions and the industry. The European Commission is producing the long-announced (from Brussels) and long-awaited (by the industry) amendment aimed at the CO2 emissions regulation for cars and light commercial vehicles, which also serves the chairwoman of the EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen, to eliminate the pression drawn on her, starting with those of her party, the EPP.

The Commission stands by its commitments to four-wheeler manufacturers and the constraints that impose on them a threshold of 95 grams of CO2 per kilometre. An average figure, the latter, to be calculated on the total emissions released into the atmosphere by newly registered models. The proposed flexibility measure, the EU executive explains, allows assessing manufacturers’ compliance with CO2 targets for 2025, 2026 and 2027  by averaging their performance over the entire three-year period rather than annually.

“Today’s flexibility demonstrates that we have listened and understood the concerns” of the European automotive industry and that “we are taking steps to address them while maintaining our zero-emissions goals,” stresses Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra. He insists on wanting to pay attention to the needs of those businesses whose political reference the EPP claims to be. It is not surprising, then, that the Commissioner for Transport, the Greek Apostolos Tzitzikostas, also a member of the People’s Party, assures that “we will continue to work closely with the industry on the action plan presented last month to keep Europe’s automakers, suppliers, and related service sectors innovative, competitive, and firmly anchored in Europe.”

However, the proposed amendment is an insufficient step, although necessary. It will need a favourable vote from the EU Parliament and Council, and it is to them that the Commission is appealing for an approval “without delay” put to the test. The chairwoman of the EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen, is confident she can get it done: “Let’s give more flexibility to this key sector while staying on course with our climate goals,” she summarises. In her view, the formula leaves no one unhappy, not even those who, like socialists, are calling for the green agenda enshrined in the Green Deal to be upheld.