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European Commission Delays Proposal on Reducing Automotive CO2
24 January 2007
The European Commission has delayed action on a legislative plan to mandate the reduction of CO2 from new cars to 120g/km by 2012 due to internal dissension.
A senior German source in Brussels highlighted the rifts, saying: “If we force a target of 120g per kilometre on each new car we would have to close DaimlerChrysler, Audi, BMW and Porsche and that’s not possible. We have to make Europe the leader in green technology while boosting output and jobs.”
January 24, 2007 in Brief, Climate Change, Emissions | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: andrichrose | January 24, 2007 at 09:23 AM
I don't think the millions of people who work for those companies--and vote--would agree with you, andri. Not to mention the dire economic effects. There's a disconnect between what the politicians want and what is actually possible from an engineering standpoint in a given timeframe.
Posted by: Cervus | January 24, 2007 at 09:36 AM
If we had a working 'cap and trade' program for CO2 then such legislation would be irrelevant. The current ETS (Europe's emission trading system) is not working, not least because it excludes transportation.
Posted by: JN2 | January 24, 2007 at 10:21 AM
If the Comission caves to pressure from the car manufacturers it'll be a joke. Voluntary agreements have been an utter failure. Work by T&E suggested the cost of achieving the 120g average would be a lot less than what the manufacturers claim (http://snipurl.com/costfor120g).
When will we get some strong leaders who will stand up to lobbyists?
Posted by: Scatter | January 24, 2007 at 10:50 AM
I think it is probably possible to conform to the regs within the set timeframe , they just do not want to , german car companies have been involved in an insane horshepower race for some time now, with some of their saloon cars pushing 500bhp obviously the level of Co2 and other pollutants also goes through the roof.
I do not dispute that they manufacture good cars , I just feel maybe the time is right to aim for other goals than just performance , and maybe put some of that famous engineering skill into something that will be good for the planet , and future generations
Posted by: andrichrose | January 25, 2007 at 08:50 AM
The presidency of the European Comission is held by Germany for the first half of 2007, so this is to be expected. After that, it's Portugal's turn.
Posted by: Jack Rosebro | January 28, 2007 at 05:05 PM
Gee its not only Detroit that doesn't wany to commit Hari Kiri.
Who would have though those wonderful Europeans who walk around with their snobish noses held high in the air, could actually not be willing to save Old Mother Earth?
They passed Kyoto and simply forgot about it. Typical. teh Eu has never met the pledges,nor evencome close.
The US didn't, and has reduced its Oil Use (and CO2) per $ of GDP by an enormous amount compared to their pathetic results.
All talk... No Action...
Posted by: Stan Peterson | February 02, 2007 at 04:17 PM
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maybe they should be closed if they can not conform over a timeframe , global climate change is here for the long run , it will not just go away !