It seems that now we are really feeling the heat of global warming. European Commission is proposing to force carmakers to make an 18% cut in CO2 emissions for new cars by 2012.The average new car in 2012 will have to emit no more than 120 grams of carbon per kilometer; this is to ensure the maximum production of 120g (0.2 lb) of CO2 per kilometer.
The proposed amendment to the fuel quality directive would oblige manufacturers to ensure an annual 1% cut in the emissions produced during the production and use of fuel between 2011 and 2020.
A new class of fuel, labeled “high bio-fuel content”, would be introduced with a bio-fuel content of up to 10%, instead of the current maximum of 5%.
Environment Commissioner, Stavros Dimas insisted that manufacturers could subsidize cheaper family cars and pass the extra cost of developing new, low-emission vehicles on to the buyers of cars that produce more pollution and that the five-year introduction period would give manufacturers time to invest in technology to make low-emission cars from lighter materials.
Mr Dimas said in a statement: ‘This is one of the most important measures in the series of new initiatives the commission needs to take to step up the fight against global climate change.’
European carmakers had failed to comply with a voluntary agreement they signed in 1998 to reduce emissions by 25 per cent by 2008, cutting only 13 per cent.
Road transport generates more than 20% of all CO2 emissions in the EU, with passenger cars being responsible for more than half of these emissions (or about 10%). CO2 emissions from road transport have risen by 22% since 1990, notably due to increases both in the number of cars on the roads as well as in the distances that are driven annually.
Transport currently accounts for nearly 30% of CO2 emissions. One fifth of the overall emissions in Europe is generated by the transport and is the only sector where emissions have been dramatically rising.
Passenger cars alone account for more than one-tenth of the EU’s CO2 emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions from the UK transport sector is a growing problem. The European Environment Commission is proposing that cars in the EU currently emit an average of 160 grams of greenhouse gases for each kilometer they travel. In 1999, the EC recommended that European, Japanese and Korean car makers voluntarily limit their emissions to 140 grams per kilometer traveled by 2009.
Auto manufacturers have come under increased pressure from the commission in recent months to step up efforts to slash CO2 emissions as part of a wider EU drive to combat global warming.
Via: BBC
