Traffic in Paris, France on May 12, 2020. The European Parliament now supports the European Commission’s target of 100% reduction in emissions from new passenger cars and vans by 2035.
Ludovic Marin | AFP | Getty Images
European lawmakers have voted to ban the sale of new diesel and gasoline cars and vans in the EU from 2035, representing an important shot at the region’s ambitious green goals.
On Wednesday, 339 MEPs in the European Parliament voted in favor of the plans, which were proposed by the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm. 249 votes were cast against the proposal, while 24 MEPs remained absent.
This moves the EU closer to its goal of cutting emissions from new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles by 100% in 2035 compared to 2021. By 2030, the target is an emissions reduction of 50% for vans and by 55%. Cars.
The Commission has previously said that passenger cars and vans account for about 12% and 2.5% of the EU’s total CO2 emissions. The MEPs will now discuss the plans with the 27 member states of the block.
Meanwhile, the UK wants to halt sales of new diesel and gasoline cars and vans by 2030. This would require zero tailpipe emissions in all new cars and vans from 2035. The UK left the EU on January 31, 2020.
Dutch MEP Jan Huitema, who is part of the Renew Europe group, welcomed the results of Wednesday’s vote. “I am thrilled that the European Parliament has supported the ambitious revision of the 2030 goals and the 100% target for 2035, which is critical to reaching climate neutrality by 2050,” he said.
Others who commented on the news included Alex Keynes, clean vehicle manager at the Brussels-based campaign group Transport and Environment. “The deadline means the last fossil fuel cars will be sold by 2035, giving us a fighting chance at averting runaway climate change,” Keynes said.
He also argued that the plans give the car industry the “certainty needed to accelerate production of electric vehicles, which will lower prices for drivers.”
For its part, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said it was “concerned that MEPs voted to set the -100% CO2 target for 2035 in stone.”
Oliver Gipsey, President and CEO of ACEA bmwSaid that his industry was “in the midst of a broader push for electric vehicles, with new models rapidly arriving.”
“But given the volatility and uncertainty we are experiencing on a day-to-day global scale, any long-term regulation going beyond this decade is premature at this early stage,” Gippes said. “Instead, a transparent review is needed to define the targets after 2030.”
The European Union has said it wants to be carbon neutral by 2050. In the medium term, he wants net greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by at least 55% by 2030, in what the EU calls its “fit for 55” plan.
The realization of this plan has not been entirely easy. The news about cars and vans came after MEPs rejected amendments to the EU’s Emissions Trading System, or ETS.
In a press release on Thursday, the European Parliament said the three draft laws in the Fit for 55 package were now “on political settlement pending”.