All large car and van manufacturers in the EU met their CO2 emissions target in 2016, according to data published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) today. The EEA report confirms preliminary findings that the EU fleet average of new vehicles is well below its 2016 emissions target.
The new EEA report shows that, based on laboratory tests, the average emissions level of a new car sold in the EU in 2016 was 118.1 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometre, well below the 2015 target of 130 g. A new van sold in the EU in 2016 emitted on average 163.7 grams of CO2 per kilometre, which is already below the 2017 target of 175 g.
Manufacturers will have to reduce emissions further to meet the targets of 95 g CO2/km by 2021 for cars and 147 g CO2/km by 2020 for vans.
Laboratory versus real-world conditions
For the annual compliance check with CO₂ targets, all EU Member States report CO2 emission levels from new vehicles annually. These are measured under standardised laboratory conditions, following the requirements of the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) test procedure for type-approval.
This cycle provides CO2 emission values that are comparable between different vehicles and manufacturers, but it does not necessarily represent real-world driving conditions. There is now wide recognition of the increasing divergence between real-world CO2 emissions and those measured according to the NEDC test procedure.
In order to address this increasing gap, the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) has been mandatory in the EU for all new vehicle types since September 2017 and will be mandatory for all new passenger cars from September 2018. Starting from 2021, the emissions targets will be based on the WLTP.
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Details
- Publication date
- 18 January 2018
- Author
- Directorate-General for Climate Action