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European car industry rejects accusations made by green pressure group

Brussels, 16/11/2007 - The European car industry rejects the accusations made by an environmental pressure group yesterday, that the automotive sector does not do enough to reduce CO2 emissions from cars.

The automobile manufacturers fully support reducing CO2 emissions to help combating climate change and are making tremendous efforts in terms of research and marketing. The fact that they produce very different cars matches an economic reality. They all cater different consumer needs and tastes, responding to a complex set of market demands. However, only recently has fuel-efficiency become an increasingly important factor for car buyers.

Reducing CO2 emissions from road transport is a complex challenge and the car industry cannot do it on its own. It is the responsibility of all relevant parties involved to take action: the automotive industry by further improving technology; the fuel industry by developing and introducing alternative fuels; policymakers by implementing harmonised taxation measures to influence consumer demand, and by adjusting infrastructure to ensure traffic flow; and car drivers by using their cars in the most ecological way.

The European Commission has announced that it wants to safeguard the diversity of the industry and the affordability of cars in the upcoming legislative framework for cars and CO2. This promise is essential. Only a competitive industry can continue to invest and innovate to further reduce CO2 emissions in a way affordable to consumers.

Diversity and affordability were also key elements when drafting the current voluntary commitment of the car industry, which was signed in 1998. This commitment contained an industry average CO2 reduction target as opposed to individual targets per manufacturer. The industry’s progress under the commitment should be assessed on an industry aggregate basis. Individual companies may show different results per year, depending on model changes and car production cycles.

The industry’s progress is significant, but has been hampered by counter-productive effects of EU regulations and market developments. The gross reduction of CO2 emissions by means of vehicle technology has been 22% or 38 grammes of CO2 per kilometre, but was brought back to a net reduction of 13% because of the effects of regulations and market demand. The 1998 Commitment states that these factors should be taken into account when assessing the 1998 Commitment results, but so far this has not been done.

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