CO₂ emissions from new cars and vans in 2022 down over a quarter since 2019 thanks to growing zero-emission vehicle sales

This decrease comes thanks to the stricter emission targets in application since 2020. Vans emissions have also seen a decrease of some 10% over the same period. Only one manufacturer was found to have exceeded its target in 2022, and will be required to pay an excess emissions premium.

In 2022, 9.4 million new passenger cars were registered in the EU, Iceland and Norway. Their average carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions during laboratory testing were 108.1 g CO₂/km, which is 5.3% below the 2021 average (114.1 g CO₂/km) and 27% below 2019 levels.

The main reason for this decrease is the growing share of new electric cars registered, reaching 23% of the new car market in 2022 (19% in 2021), with 13.5% being fully electric.

One million new vans were registered in the EU, Iceland and Norway in 2022. Their average CO₂ emissions were 183.8 g CO₂/km, which is 4.9% below 2021 levels (193.3 g CO₂/km) and a 10% decrease since 2019.

The share of electric vans continued to increase from 3.5% in 2021 to 6.2% in 2022, nearly all of them fully electric.

This year-by-year progress in reducing the CO₂ emissions of new vehicles is spurred by the stricter targets that have applied in the EU since 2020.

It is crucial that emissions from new cars and vans continue to decrease over the next decade to deliver on the targets set out in the revised CO₂ emission performance standards for cars and vans, in view of the 2050 climate-neutrality objective of the EU.

Read more:

• EEA Indicators (cars, vans)
• Reducing CO₂ emissions from light-duty vehicles
• CO₂ emissions data for passenger cars (EEA)
• CO₂ emissions data for vans (EEA)