Report: EU Carmaking Nations in Agreement on CO2 Regulations
21 November 2008
Reuters reports that Europe’s four big automaking nations—Italy, Britain, France and Germany—have agreed to a proposed structure for regulations mandating reductions in CO2 from cars.
The EU has proposed an average limit of 130 g/km by 2012, with a further 10 g to come from other elements such as tires, fuels and air conditioning. The plan was opposed by several countries, led by Germany.
Last month, Britain, France and Germany agreed to stick to the CO2 targets, phasing them in between 2012 and 2015, but there was no agreement on how much to fine manufacturers that fail to reach their goal after Rome fought hard for Italian manufacturers. Italy argued for modest fines for violators at the lower end of the scale.
German government sources told Reuters on Thursday an agreement had been reached ahead of a meeting between Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday. The fines should be a maximum of 15 euros per gram for cars exceeding the limit by less than three grams, rising to 95 euros per gram for cars that far exceed the limits. An Italian government source said the fine would be 5 euros for the first gram of excess CO2, 10 euros for the second, and 15 euros for the third, and the system would last indefinitely.
Talks on the proposal between the European Parliament, European Commission and member states are scheduled for 24 November.
Surely these modest fines will just be passed on to the consumer? The manufacturers can simply claim that the extra 200 euros on a vehicle's list price reflect EU "taxes".
Posted by: clett | 21 November 2008 at 01:31 AM
€5 isn't a fine, it's a green light for the carmakers to carry on polluting.
The whole point of a fine is that it should be work as an incentive for them to comply - it should be cheaper for them to meet the target than pay the fine. But at these levels, especially if they are indefinite it won't be worth them organising new price lists for a €5 euro increase. This is just the last round of a series of attempts to chip away at the targets so the car makers can carry on with business as usual.
Posted by: Debra | 21 November 2008 at 03:36 AM
The fine proposed is 5*dc * (dc+1)/2
where dc is the CO2 level - 130 (assuming it is positive).
There is a limit/gram of e95.
It can reach quite a level of say e10070 for 115 gms over the target.
However, the tax is an absolute, not a percentage, so it affects smaller cars more than large (or expensive) ones.
They could have picked a percentage tax such as 0.5 dc %, with some upper limit like 50%.
But I suppose the Germans put a stop to that idea.
One problem is that CO2 reduction in Europe has mainly driven people towards diesel which causes a great deal of local pollution, especially in cities, which is not a good thing [ I can tell you ].
Posted by: mahonj | 21 November 2008 at 05:14 AM
If you don't like it... Tax it.
I personally don't like cats, so tax it.
Greenpeace doesn't like thermal poser plants on coal..tax it..
Posted by: plop | 21 November 2008 at 12:34 PM
My point is that it shouldn't be a tax (or about likes or dislikes). In Europe, transport emissions make up nearly a quarter of its carbon footprint.
The point of the legislation should be that car makers will be obliged to reduce CO2 emissions in an attempt to reduce their contribution to climate change. The fact that they could get away with paying over some cash to carry on polluting is scandalous.
Posted by: Debra | 24 November 2008 at 02:33 AM