Cars: Salini unveils revised CO2 emission standards; Confindustria welcomes them

Brussels – Confindustria welcomes the report by Massimiliano Salini, MEP for Forza Italia and Vice-President of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament, on the proposed revision of the car and van CO2 emissions regulation. Presented yesterday (2 June) to the Environment Committee (ENVI), Salini points out that the text represents “a concrete proposal that combines sustainability and competitiveness, without ideological deviations,” and which aims “to establish an effective and realistic decarbonisation pathway consistent with the principle of technological neutrality.” According to the Vice-President of Confindustria for the European Union, Stefan Pan, “the draft report overcomes many of the critical issues in the Commission’s proposal, addressing the sector’s concerns with concrete solutions: it is now important that it is approved without weakening its content.”

The proposal will be discussed in the Environment Committee, with the final vote scheduled for this autumn. It will then be put to the plenary for consideration. The report introduces a new category of vehicles with zero tailpipe emissions, powered exclusively by renewable fuels (biofuels and e-fuels), which will be treated in the same way as electric vehicles. Salini stressed that “only by also promoting renewable fuels can we ensure true technological neutrality and accelerate the decarbonisation of road transport.” Furthermore, the proposal adjusts the 2035 reduction target by proposing a 90 per cent emissions cut for cars, incorporating the flexibilities provided for by the Commission – namely credits for low-carbon fuels and steel – without, however, imposing strict limits on their use or viewing them as mere compensation for the remaining 10 per cent. For vans, the target is lowered to 80 per cent, maintaining the same flexibility mechanism as for cars. Finally, the compliance period (averaging) is extended from three to five years, giving manufacturers more time to meet the interim reduction targets and also providing a gradual pathway for vans. For vans, moreover, the 2030 target is reduced from 40 per cent to 30 per cent, while “super-credits” for small cars and vans are strengthened and expanded, to incentivise the production and uptake of more affordable, low-emission models. Finally, the report also proposes freezing the “Utility Factor” parameter, which governs type-approval testing for plug-in hybrid vehicles.

According to Confindustria, the proposed amendments incorporate various requests made by the automotive industry in recent months, starting with an approach based on full technological neutrality. Among the changes it considers “most positive” are the creation, from the Regulation’s entry into force, of a category of zero-emission vehicles powered exclusively by sustainable fuels (VEEF), and the revision of emission targets for vans for 2030 and 2035 and for cars for 2035. “Also of great importance is the extension of the flexibilities proposed by the Commission, including the possibility of using sustainable renewable fuels and green steel to obtain emission credits immediately, and not just from 2035, with a strengthened super-credit also provided for beyond 2035; the increase in the share of sustainable renewable fuels from 3 per cent to 10 per cent and the extension of the definition of ‘sustainable renewable fuels’ to all fuels compliant with the RED”, the Renewable Energy Directive. For Pan, yesterday’s presentation was “only a first step, but it demonstrates the growing awareness among Brussels’ legislators.” According to the vice-president, “once the decarbonisation targets have been set, it is right to leave it to operators and consumers to choose the best solutions for each context, moving beyond the ideological and universalist approach that has characterised European strategies to date.”

English version by the Translation Service of Withub