European union to cut new car emissions by 37.5 per cent

The European Union forged ahead yesterday with plans to slash carbon dioxide emissions from new cars and vans by 2030 despite industry concerns the targets are for now “totally unrealistic.” EU member countries and the European Parliament struck the ambitious deal late Monday that Brussels said would help the bloc meet its commitments under the Paris climate accord.

The targets will require new cars sold in 2030 to emit 37.5 percent less carbon dioxide on average compared to 2021 levels. Emissions from new vans will have to be 31 percent lower. Ambassadors from E U countries are to expected to endorse the deal in Brussels as soon as Wednesday, just days after the COP24 summit in Poland aimed at breathing new life into the 2015 Paris climate deal.

The auto emissions deal is a compromise between the demands of states like Germany which wanted a more modest cut of 30 per cent and the European Parliament which had wanted a reduction of 40pc. Siding with Germany, the bloc’s biggest auto producer, were several eastern EU countries. France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Ireland backed the parliament’s more ambitious goal.