German car manufacturers celebrate as European Parliament votes to confirm scale-back of emissions targets

The European Parliament today (25 February) voted to confirm a legislative agreement, revising EU rules on CO2 emissions limits for vehicles for 2020. The final agreement, which was forced through on the insistence of the German government, overturned an earlier agreement, which had been reached to implement a fleet average for car CO2 emissions of 95 grammes of CO2 per kilometre by 2020.

After the vote, Greens/EFA co-president Rebecca Harms said: "This confirms what is a major pre-electoral gift for the German car industry. MEPs have endorsed this agreement to scale-back previously-agreed car CO2 emissions limits for 2020. The final agreement, which reneged on an earlier agreement, also undermines the EU's democratic decision-making process.

"The agreement reached between the European Parliament and Council was already low on ambition. Weakening and delaying the agreed 2020 limits, which have long been known, is a shameful sop to German car manufacturers and will slow the development of new technologies to deliver more efficient and less polluting cars. Unfortunately, some in the European car industry continue to view climate protection and competitiveness as mutually exclusive rather than complementary."

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