ACEA

CEOs give encouragement to climate change talks in Bali

Brussels, 7 December 2007

Sir,

As the CEOs of thirteen auto companies producing and marketing our products around the world, Board Members of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), we write to give support and encouragement to the UN-sponsored ministerial talks on climate change in Bali, Indonesia.  We think it vital that they work towards the kind of comprehensive agreement that our planet needs.

The climate change scenarios described in this year’s reports from the International Panel on Climate Change indicate that governments must embrace sound and holistic measures to follow on from the Kyoto agreement. Inevitably, any such package, which has to be global in its application, will shape the framework in which our industry alongside many others will make our contributions to carbon reduction.

We are proud of our achievements in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our vehicles and are ready to build upon them in pursuit of still better products. We shall be all the more successful if we can develop a partnership with policymakers based on a common vision of what our industry can achieve, how this could be enhanced by other policies and in what timeframe. Coherent public policies would, for example, encourage consumers to choose vehicles with carbon lowering technologies, boosting demand for advanced cars and for sustainable alternative fuels.

For our part, much of the €20 billion we spend every year on research & development is dedicated to developing vehicles that emit less CO2 and will ultimately function wholly or largely without fossil fuels. We devote these investments without losing sight of other important needs and requirements, such as increasing road safety, improving air quality and continued employment for the millions of workers in the automotive industry.

Widespread further innovations will be required across all sectors to challenge climate change and we are fully focused to contribute. We need to be tremendously inventive: there is not just one sector, technology or measure that will solve climate change; the solutions are multiple and may also differ per region and person. In a framework that will enable us to sustain and increase research & development, we can say with confidence that the automotive industry will meet the expectations of our customers and the societies in which we operate.

Norbert REITHOFER	BMW GROUP	Wendelin WIEDEKING	PORSCHE
Aad L. GOUDRIAAN	DAF TRUCKS	Christian STREIFF	PSA Peugeot Citroën
Dieter ZETSCHE	DAIMLER	Carlos GHOSN	RENAULT
Sergio MARCHIONNE	FIAT GROUP	Leif OESTLING	SCANIA
Lewis BOOTH	FORD	Martin WINTERKORN	VOLKSWAGEN
Carl Peter FORSTER	GENERAL MOTORS	Leif JOHANSSON	VOLVO
Hakan SAMUELSSON	MAN

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