Deal on #CO2 future emission reductions for new cars and vans agreed – Council's inability to live up to international climate commitments hampers real progress

Nils TORVALDS [email protected].eu

Nils Torvalds MEP said: "While we managed to secure a clear improvement in the 2030 target for cars compared to the original Commission proposal and strengthened the agreement by significantly reducing various negative aspects of the Council position, this agreement nevertheless falls short of what the European parliament has considered necessary in order to respect the Paris Agreement. I'm disappointed and saddened by the fact that only a few days ago in Katowice, all institutions and representatives from member states, including Germany, have spoken grandly about commitments to climate ambition. Now, on a regular Monday in Brussels, this ambition is completely forgotten about. The inability to deliver in practice what is so much emphasized in speeches is what eventually stopped us from making real progress on other key issues such as the 2025 targets. That we two days after Katowice could not come to a better result has to tell its own story and serve as an eye-opener.

"The lower ambition on the 2025 targets for cars and vans risks some member states missing their window of opportunity to make good progress to achieve their binding emission reduction targets under the EU Effort Sharing Regulation in 2030. The lower ambition the ambition in 2025, the higher and steeper it will have to be as we move towards 2030 and the second half of this century. Delaying necessary progress is not a serious way of dealing with climate change."