ACEA

GLOBAL WARMING: European Automobile Industry Supports CO2-based Car and Alternative Fuels Taxation

Today, the European Parliament voted on the European Commission’s proposed Directive on a more harmonised and CO2-based taxation of cars in the EU. ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, firmly supports this Commission proposal and believes in linking car taxation directly to CO2 emissions. ACEA proposes a similar scheme for the taxation of alternative fuels to further increase its effectiveness.

Linking taxation of cars and alternative fuels to CO2 emissions offers an opportunity to reduce car related CO2 emissions substantially. There is a need for the EU to agree on some basic principles of such tax schemes to ensure effectiveness and to avoid market-distorting effects. For instance, taxation should be technology neutral and linearly related to CO2 emissions. The transitions from current tax regimes to the new regimes should be budget neutral.

Ivan Hodac, Secretary General of ACEA, stated today that “ACEA supports CO2-based taxation of cars and alternative fuels in the EU as this will create the necessary demand for CO2 efficient solutions that are already offered to the market or waiting to be introduced. CO2-based taxation of cars and of alternative fuels should be the main element of a multi-stakeholder EU strategy to reduce car related CO2 emissions.”

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