Space Industry and Business News  
EU Reaches Compromise On New Car Emissions Plan

The German auto industry has lobbied hard against the plans for tougher emissions limits, arguing in a recent open letter that production of medium-and high-powered cars would shrink and jobs moved elsewhere. Road transport pollution has risen 30 percent since 1990 and now makes up more than a quarter of the EU's carbon dioxide emissions, with half of that from passenger cars.
by Fabrice Randoux
Brussels (AFP) Feb 06, 2007
The European Commission thrashed out plans Tuesday for deep cuts in new car emissions after weeks of delays due to divisions over how much the car industry should do to reduce pollution. EU officials said that a compromise had been reached requiring car makers to reduce average carbon dioxide emissions from new passenger cars to 120 grammes per kilometre by 2012 from about 160 currently.

However, their engines would be required to emit 130 grammes on average with another 10 grammes coming due to improvements to tyres, air conditioning and making more use of biofuels.

With car makers failing to meet existing voluntary targets, the commission recognized that binding limits were needed although Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas and Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen were divided over how much of a reduction would have to come from car makers.

Dimas sought a tough binding limit of 120 grammes for car makers while Verheugen wanted measures to be shared with tyre and fuel makers, easing the burden of the automobile industry.

The proposal cannot be officially put on the table until it is endorsed by by commissioners during a meeting on Wednesday.

Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger confirmed that a consensus was emerging, but downplayed divisions within the European Union's executive arm.

"The target is and remains 120 grammes per kilometre by 2012," he told journalists. "The bulk of the effort will have to come from motor vehicle technology, the rest of the effort will have to come from other sources."

Officials close to Dimas said that they were "very satisfied" with the compromise because "the bulk of the effort will be with car makers".

European, Japanese and Korean automakers have failed to meet a voluntary target to cut average emissions for new cars sold in Europe to 25 percent of 1995 levels.

The commission says that they have only reached 12.4 percent, which the EU executive describes as "not satisfactory".

The ACEA automobile association says that if the targets have not been met it is not car makers' fault, blaming instead "strong customer demand for larger and safer vehicles and disappointing consumer acceptance of extremely fuel-efficient cars".

The German auto industry has lobbied hard against the plans for tougher emissions limits, arguing in a recent open letter that production of medium-and high-powered cars would shrink and jobs moved elsewhere.

Road transport pollution has risen 30 percent since 1990 and now makes up more than a quarter of the EU's carbon dioxide emissions, with half of that from passenger cars.

"That throws into question hard-won progress in other sectors on respecting the EU's targets under the Kyoto Protocol," said the head of commission's policy on climate change, Jos Delbeke.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, the EU is required to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by eight percent from 1990 levels by 2012.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Related Links
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Our Polluted World and Cleaning It Up
China News From SinoDaily.com
Global Trade News
The Economy
All About Solar Energy at SolarDaily.com
Civil Nuclear Energy Science, Technology and News
Car Technology at SpaceMart.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


London Council Votes For Emissions-Related Parking Charges
London (AFP) Jan 30, 2007
Municipal councillors in an affluent London suburb have voted to introduce controversial residential parking charges that penalise the most polluting cars, the local authority said Tuesday. The graded scheme would give electric car owners free parking permits but see owners of vehicles with high carbon dioxide emissions like 4x4s charged triple the current annual rate of 100 pounds (151 euros, 197 dollars).







  • New Damage And Bad Weather Delay Asian Internet Repairs
  • Asia Turns To Time-Tested Solution For Damaged Internet Cables
  • Chinese Web Could Remain Slow Until Late January
  • 10000 Chinese Domain Names Vanish Amid Web Chaos

  • Sea Launch Zenit Explodes On Pad
  • Sea Launch Operations To Be Resumed Despite Liftoff Failure
  • SpaceWorks Engineering Releases Study On Emerging Commercial Transport Services To ISS
  • JOULE II Launches With Success At Poker Flat

  • Anger As Britons Face Air Tax Hike
  • Bats In Flight Reveal Unexpected Aerodynamics
  • Lockheed Martin And Boeing Form Strategic Alliance To Promote Next-Gen Air Transportation System
  • Time to test the Guardian Missile Defense System For Commercial Aircraft

  • Defense Support Program Flight 23 Sees Integration Of Satellite And Launch Vehicle Payload Adapter
  • KVH Receives 5-year Sole-source Contract From US Military
  • Raytheon to Demonstrate Global Joint Interoperability Solutions During US-Japan Joint Exercise
  • Alcatel Wins Italian Military Communications Satellite Deal

  • Novel Computer Imaging Technique Uses Blurry Images To Enhance View
  • Nanoengineered Concrete Could Cut CO2 Emissions
  • First LISA Pathfinder Flight Unit Ready For Delivery On 8 February
  • Harris Successfully Demonstrates Super HF Antenna Control Unit in Extremely Adverse Sea Conditions

  • Northrop Grumman Names Teri Marconi VP Of Combat Avionics For Electronic Systems
  • Northrop Grumman Appoints Joseph Ensor Vice President Of Surveillance And Remote Sensing
  • Swedish Space Corporation Appoints New CEO
  • Solar Night Industries Announces Expansion into Colorado

  • GeoEye Makes Final Debt Payment For The Purchase Of Space Imaging
  • Google Earth To Blur Key India Sites
  • Brazilian Satellite Undergoes Environmental Tests
  • Canada And US Launch Satellite Mapping Project Of North America

  • GPS Upgrade Will Require Complicated Choreography
  • China Puts New Navigation Satellite Into Orbit
  • GMV Signs Galileo Contracts Worth Over 40 Million Euros
  • Port Of Rotterdam To Use SAVI Networks Savitrak For Cargo Security And Management Service

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement