President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced that she will propose a looser three-year timeframe for the car industry to meet CO2 emission standards, instead of annual targets. The focus is on changes to emissions rules that will benefit the car industry.
The move follows the second meeting of the “Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the European Automotive Industry”, where industry representatives called for changes to CO2 rules to avoid penalties and boost the sector’s competitiveness, Euractiv reports.
Existing emissions targets for new vehicles would remain, but the change would mean more flexibility for the industry, while maintaining predictability for manufacturers that are already close to meeting their annual targets.
Von der Leyen stressed that relief would only make sense if it was adopted quickly and announced an accelerated review of the 2035 targets. However, some research centres still advocate keeping the existing targets, as they believe that most manufacturers could meet the targets and not be penalised.
Emission allowances are becoming a thing of the past
In short, the European Commission is going to change the climate targets that would make the car industry pay heavy fines. So-called emission allowances are slowly becoming a thing of the past.
Domen Mezeg
