EU Commission presents draft on CO2 emission limits

The title of the draft, which is available to electrive, sums up the content: “Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2019/631 to include an additional flexibility as regards the calculation of manufacturers’ compliance with CO2 emission performance standards for new passenger cars and new light commercial vehicles for the calendar years 2025 to 2027.”

The draft is intended to regulate what Ursula von der Leyen had already announced on 3 March: She wants to allow manufacturers to achieve the CO2 target over the next three years instead of this year as originally planned. “Instead of annual compliance, companies will get three years – this is the principle of banking and borrowing; the targets stay the same; they have to fulfil the targets,” von der Leyen said at the time. “There is a clear demand for more flexibility on CO2 targets. The key principle here is balance. On the one hand, we need predictability and fairness for first movers, those who did their homework successfully. That means that we have to stick to the agreed targets. On the other, we need to listen to the voices of the stakeholders that ask for more pragmatism in these difficult times, and for technology neutrality.” The EU Commission wanted to present the exact regulation in March.

CO2 limits remain, but compliance will be adjusted

This has now been done in the draft that has become public – the argumentation in the 29-page document largely coincides with von der Leyen’s statements from the beginning of the month. The draft of the revised version states several times that the CO2 targets agreed (from EU Regulation 2019/631) should not be changed and that the increasingly strict CO2 limits must also be adhered to – this is intended to give investors along the value chain long-term security.

However, paragraphs 3 and 4 of the draft then state: “In response to the request of stakeholders for an additional compliance flexibility on CO2 targets as regards the period 2025 to 2027, it is appropriate to urgently adopt an amendment to allow a one-off flexibility for those three years in the calculation of the compliance with the CO2 emission performance standards, while maintaining the targets for reducing CO2 emissions. During the period 2025 to 2027, manufacturers should ensure that the average specific emissions of CO2 of their vehicles do not exceed an emissions target, calculated as the average of their annual specific emissions targets over the period. Compliance with the targets should be assessed at the end of the three-year period for each individual
manufacturer. The excess emission premiums should be calculated accordingly.”

CO2 pooling with other manufacturers should also continue to be possible: “In order to align the pooling provisions with the additional compliance flexibility in the years 2025 to 2027, it should be possible to enter into pooling agreements for each of those three years until the end of 2027,” the draft states.

The Commission’s proposal still has to be approved by the EU Parliament and the European Council – in other words, the elected parliament on the one hand and the body of EU heads of state and government on the other.

The softened CO2 limits are just one aspect of the more comprehensive action plan that has emerged from the EU strategic dialogue on the future of the automotive industry. You can read about the other plans, from grid connections and battery raw materials to purchase incentives, in our overview.

Source: Info via email