Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2009)593 - Emission performance standards for new light commercial vehicles as part of the EC's integrated approach to reduce CO2 emissions from light-duty vehicles - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2009)593 - Emission performance standards for new light commercial vehicles as part of the EC's integrated approach to reduce CO2 ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2009)593  |
| date | 30-09-2009 |
· Grounds for and objectives of the proposal
The internal market comprises an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital must be ensured.
The objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was approved on behalf of the European Community by Council Decision 94/69/EC of 15 December 1993 concerning the conclusion of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change i, is to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. In order to meet this objective the overall global annual mean surface temperature increase should not exceed 2ºC above pre-industrial levels. The fourth IPCC Assessment Report shows that in order to reach that objective, global emissions of greenhouse gases must peak by 2020. The European Council of March 2007 made a firm commitment to reduce the overall greenhouse gas emissions of the Community by at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 and by 30% provided that other developed countries commit themselves to comparable emission reductions and economically more advanced developing countries contribute according to their respective capabilities. The Climate and Energy Package agreed in December last year enshrined these targets in law. Decision 406/2009/EC provides for an average reduction of 10% compared to 2005 levels in the sectors not covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, including road transport. One of the implications of those commitments is that all Member States will need to significantly reduce emissions from road transport.
Light commercial vehicles are mainly used by businesses, including small and medium enterprises and currently light commercial vehicles make up around 12% of the fleet. The services provided by light commercial vehicles are indispensable for meeting people's everyday needs. Road transport is a significant source of employment and growth in many regions of the EU. However, vehicle usage also has significant impacts on climate change. The share of light commercial vehicles in the total registrations of light-duty vehicle fleet (passenger cars and light commercial vehicles) increased at a steady rate from 1995 to 2007. The average reduction of CO2 emissions over 2002-2007 for light commercial vehicles amounted to 0.4-0.5% per year, and these very limited improvements in fuel efficiency have been offset by the increase in demand for transport and vehicle size. While the EU as a whole has reduced its emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by approximately 9% over the 1990-2007 period and emissions have been declining in non-transport sectors, the CO2 emissions from transport have increased by 29%. Despite significant improvements in vehicle motor technology, in particular in fuel efficiency which also means lower CO2 emissions, demand for transport and vehicle size has increased and progress has been too slow in view of the overall Community objective of average new passenger car emissions of 120 g CO2/km.
The objective of this proposal is to reduce the average CO2 emissions from light commercial vehicles to 175g CO2/km from 2014 phased-in to 2016. This proposal is part of the integrated approach proposed by the Commission and contributes to delivering the 10g CO2/km required in order to meet the Community objective of 120 g CO2/km, as set out in Communication COM(2007) 19.
Adopting Community targets for new light commercial vehicles is necessary to prevent fragmentation in the internal market resulting from the adoption of different measures at Member State level. Community targets provide manufacturers with more planning certainty and more flexibility to meet the CO2 reduction requirements than would be provided by separate national reduction targets.
Furthermore, setting CO2 emission standards for new light commercial vehicles is necessary to prevent a risk of regulatory gap resulting from certain overlap between the registrations for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. Currently many vehicles that are homologated as passenger cars are registered as light commercial vehicles, often to take advantage of reduced taxation or other fiscal incentives. Although the scope of the legislation on passenger cars (like this proposal) is linked to the type of vehicle as type-approved (irrespective of how it is registered), the absence of regulation for LCVs could create a significant risk of market responses to type-approve larger passenger cars as light commercial vehicles. This would mean that these high emitting vehicles would remain out of the scope of CO2 emission standards.
The aim of this Regulation is to create incentives for the automotive industry to invest in new technologies. The Regulation actively promotes eco-innovation and takes into account future technological developments. In this way, the competitiveness of the European Industry is enhanced and more high-quality jobs created.
· General context
The Commission first adopted a Community Strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from cars in 1995. The strategy was based on three pillars: voluntary commitments from the car industry to cut emissions from passenger cars, improvements in consumer information and the promotion of fuel efficient cars via fiscal measures.
The Environment Council, in its conclusions of 10 October 2000 requested the Commission to study greenhouse gas emission reduction measures on light commercial vehicles. On 7 February 2007, the Commission adopted two parallel Communications: a Communication on the results of the review of the Community Strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars and light commercial vehicles and a Communication on a Competitive Automotive Regulatory Framework for the 21st Century CARS 21 ("the Communications"). The Communications underlined that the Community objective of average emissions from the new car fleet of 120g CO2/km would not be met by 2012 in the absence of additional measures. The Communications therefore proposed the adoption of an integrated approach to meet the Community objective and announced that the Commission would propose a legislative framework to achieve the Community objective by focusing on mandatory reductions of emissions of CO2 to reach the objective of 130 g CO2/km for the average new car fleet by means of improvements in vehicle motor technology, and a further reduction of 10 g CO2/km, or equivalent if technically necessary, by other technological improvements. These include fuel efficiency progress in light commercial vehicles.
The Communications emphasised that the legislative framework for implementing the average vehicle fleet target should ensure competitively neutral and socially equitable and sustainable reduction targets which are equitable to the diversity of the European automobile manufacturers and avoid any unjustified distortion of competition between automobile manufacturers. The legislative framework should be compatible with the Community's overall emission reduction targets.
In May 2007, the Competitiveness Council supported 'an integrated approach as proposed by the Commission, for reducing CO2 emissions from motor vehicles' underlining 'that all the players must make their contribution to reducing emissions harmful to the climate' i.
Furthermore, on 28 June 2007 the Council invited the Commission to come forward with a proposal on the improvement of fuel efficiency from light commercial vehicles i.
· Existing provisions in the area of the proposal
Directive 2004/3/EC i amending Council Directives 70/156/EEC and 80/1268/EEC as regards the measurement of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption of N1 vehicles
· Consistency with the other policies and objectives of the Union
The proposal is in line with the three pillars of the Lisbon Strategy as tighter requirements on CO2 emissions and fuel efficiency should encourage the development and application of new environmental technologies, which in turn, could encourage high-value-added technology exports of technologies and vehicles to emerging markets where oil is scarce and promote highly qualified jobs in Europe.
The proposal also contributes to the Renewed Sustainable Development Strategy adopted by the European Council in June 2006 by contributing to a more sustainable mobility. Making transport more sustainable would facilitate achieving other sustainable development goals. This relationship is particularly strong between transport, climate change, public health, conservation of natural resources and energy use.
The objectives of the proposal will also contribute to reaching the Community target of at least 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 because of the important contribution of transport to emissions from sectors of the economy not included in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. The proposal is also consistent with and complementary to Regulation (EC) No 443/2009 setting CO2 emission standards from passenger cars.
The proposal will put in place a concrete measure to deliver on the targets and will therefore strengthen the EU's leadership position on climate change in the run-up to the United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.
· Consultation of interested parties
The stakeholder consultation process included a public internet consultation and two stakeholder meetings.
· Between May and July 2007, an internet public consultation was carried out, aimed at gathering the views of all stakeholders and members of the public on the implementation of the revised strategy to reduce CO2 from light-duty vehicles. This included measures to reduce emissions from light commercial vehicles. The majority of the consultation responses are available at:
ec.europa.eu/reducing_co2_emissions_from_cars
· To complement the internet consultation, two stakeholder meetings were organised by the Commission on 2 September 2008 and 9 March 2009. This provided the stakeholders directly concerned by the upcoming legislation (automotive industry, suppliers, environmental NGOs, social partners and Member States) the opportunity to present their positions. Summaries of both meetings are attached in Annex II and Annex III of the impact assessment accompanying the proposal.
In addition an external study investigating possible regulatory approaches to reducing CO2 from light-duty vehicles was carried out and a study consisting of two reports: Assessment of options for the legislation on CO2 emissions from light commercial vehicles iand Assessment with respect to long term CO2 emission targets for passenger cars and vans i, has been developed. The study was part of a project Impacts of regulatory options to reduce CO2 emissions from cars, in particular on car manufacturers under the framework contract ENV.C.5/FRA/2006/0071 (Service request ENV C5/GK/ak/D(2007)17850). Analysis of alternative policy options is based on findings of this study.
Input from stakeholders has been taken into account in assessing the different possible options to regulate CO2 emissions from light commercial vehicles, particularly with regard to the design of the legislation, possible unwanted effects, and implications for competition on automotive markets, global industrial competitiveness and environmental outcome. External expertise was used to assess the various options available, including aspects raised during the consultation process (the external contractor attended the public hearings).
The information gathered through the stakeholder consultation has been taken into account in the design of the proposed scheme. Details of how this was done are set out in the impact assessment report which accompanies this proposal.
· Collection and use of expertise
Expertise from the automotive industry, including manufacturers and i modelling expertise provided by external consultants
Modelling with formal mathematical models and calculations based on statistical data
Main organisations/experts consulted
Public authorities, industry associations, trade organisations, environmental organisations, consumer organisations and external consultants
Summary of advice received and used
The advice provided by the external consultant has been used to assess the implications of the various policy options to achieve the objectives of the proposal. These options and their implications are described in the impact assessment which accompanies this proposal.
The study carried out in support of the impact assessment, together with earlier related work, will be made available at the following website:
ec.europa.eu/environment/co2/co2_studies
· Impact assessment
The impact assessment investigated five main options:
The first two options considered were to define a linear curve giving the CO2 value to be achieved by a given vehicle as a function of its 'utility' (mass) so that the average of the new light commercial vehicles in i 2012 and i 2013-2015 would deliver the 175 g CO2/km target.
The two following options were based on the same target (175 g CO2/km) and years (resp. 2012 and 2013-2015), but on the basis of a linear curve defining the CO2 value to be achieved as a function of an alternative 'utility', namely pan area.
The fifth and last option was to require manufacturers to deliver a set percentage reduction corresponding to the reduction needed to achieve the 175 g CO2/km target in 2012-2015 compared to the 2007 situation.
The impact assessment considered different flexibility mechanisms, including fleet averaging and pooling, as well as a compliance mechanism. In addition from the five policy options, several levels of the long-term target ranging from 160 to 125 g CO2/km for year 2020 have been analysed.
The potential economic, social and environmental impacts have been considered in detail. The detailed evaluation of the options is set out in the impact assessment accompanying the proposal which will be available at the following addresses:
ec.europa.eu/environment/co2/co2_home
· Summary of the proposed action
The proposal is a follow-up of the Community Strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from light-duty vehicles and complements Regulation (EC) No 443/2009 (Regulation setting CO2 emission performance standards for new passenger cars). It aims to reduce the impact of light-duty vehicles on the climate by ensuring that the average specific emissions of new light commercial vehicles registered in the Community do not exceed 175 g CO2/km. This target will be phased in gradually from 1 January 2014 onwards with full compliance of the new light commercial fleet from 2016.
The starting date for the CO2 emissions standard for light commercial vehicles is consistent with the timeframe of the adoption by the Commission of the proposal for a regulation setting similar standards for passenger cars as of 2012. This indicates entry into force of the standard for light commercial vehicles from 2014. Further to the inclusion of the long-term target of 95 g/km as of 2020 in Regulation (EC) No 443/2009, this proposal sets a target of 135 g/km for light commercial vehicles to be achieved from 2020 subject to confirmation of its feasibility on the basis of updated impact assessment results.
The key aspects of the proposal are:
– The proposal will apply to light commercial vehicles of category N1, with a reference mass not exceeding 2610kg and vehicles to which type-approval is extended in accordance with Article 2 i of Regulation (EC) No 715/2007. N2 and M2 vehicles with a reference mass meeting the above criteria will be included for monitoring purposes and their full inclusion in the scheme will be considered during a review.
– The proposal sets targets for the specific emissions of CO2 from new light commercial vehicles in the Community as a function of their mass. The targets will apply to the average specific emissions of CO2 in g/km for new light commercial vehicles for each manufacturer which are registered in the EU in each calendar year. Manufacturers may form a pool in order to meet their targets. Where two or more manufacturers form a pool, the pool will be treated as if it is one manufacturer for the purposes of determining its compliance with the targets.
– The proposal includes incentives for early market deployment of low emitting light-commercial vehicles by granting them super-credits on an interim basis.
– The proposal includes provisions to promote eco-innovations (i.e. CO2-reducing technologies that are not captured by the test-cycle during which CO2 emissions are measured). Under this provision up to 7 g/km can be deducted from the average of manufacturer's specific CO2 emissions for innovative technologies which reduce emissions, based on independently verified data.
– Member States will be obliged to collect data on the new light commercial vehicles registered in their territory and to report this data to the Commission for the purposes of assessing compliance with the targets.
– If a manufacturer fails to meet its target, it will be required to pay an excess emissions premium. The premium will be calculated by multiplying the number of g CO2/km by which the manufacturer exceeded its target by the number of vehicles newly registered and by the excess emissions premium calculated as a function of the year and distance to target.
– The proposal provided for alternative emissions reduction targets for manufacturers responsible for less than 22 000 vehicles registered in the EU per calendar year.
– The targets under the Regulation are established on the basis of the best knowledge currently available regarding in particular the likely fleet evolution between now and 2014 in respect of the autonomous weight increase.
Contents
- Legal elements of the proposal
- Budgetary implication
- 1. Consultation of interested parties and impact assessment
- Consultation methods, main sectors targeted and general profile of respondents
- Summary of responses and how they have been taken into account
- Scientific expertise/domains concerned
- Methodology used
- Means used to make the expert advice publicly available
- 3. Additional information
· Legal basis
Article 175 of the EC Treaty is the appropriate legal basis because the main objective of this proposal is to ensure a high level of protection of health and the environment by reducing the average CO2 emissions from light commercial vehicles.
· Subsidiarity principle
The subsidiarity principle applies insofar as the proposal does not fall under the exclusive competence of the Community.
The objectives of the proposal cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States for the following reasons:
Due to the need to avoid the emergence of barriers to the single market, the trans-boundary nature of climate change and the potential variations in the national averages of CO2 emissions for new light commercial vehicles, Member States would not be able to implement national measures such that overall, the EU average of 175 g CO2/km would be delivered.
Community action will better achieve the objectives of the proposal for the following reasons:
Harmonised action to reduce the climate change impact of light commercial vehicles can best be achieved by adopting legislation at Community level. Adopting targets for CO2 emissions from these vehicles at the Community level prevents fragmentation of the internal market and provides manufacturers with more flexibility in implementing the required CO2 reductions across their new vehicle fleet in the Community rather than having specific strategies for specific national reduction objectives.
The scope of the proposal is limited to defining manufacturers' targets in respect of the achievement of the average new light commercial vehicle fleet emissions of 175 g CO2/km, without prescribing complementary measures (such as fiscal incentives) that Member States could take and that could contribute to the overall objective of reducing CO2 from road vehicles.
The proposal therefore complies with the subsidiarity principle.
· Proportionality principle
The proposal complies with the proportionality principle for the following reasons:
It does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve the objectives of ensuring the proper functioning of the internal market while at the same time providing for a high level of environmental protection.
The proposal is proportionate to the EU's overall objective of reaching the EU's Kyoto targets and sets competitively neutral and socially equitable and sustainable reduction targets which are equitable to the diversity of the European automotive manufacturers and avoid any unjustified distortion of competition between manufacturers.
The proposal foresees the implementation of a monitoring scheme that is very similar to the one already implemented by Member States for passenger cars, and that has proved very efficient in following up the implementation of the CO2 and cars strategy.
· Choice of instrument:
Proposed instrument: Regulation.
Other means would not be adequate for the following reasons:
The Regulation is proposed on the basis of a thorough analysis of the options available to deliver progress in the reduction of the average specific emissions of light commercial vehicles in the EU. This type of instrument has been adopted for passenger cars, and it is appropriate to use the same approach for light commercial vehicles in order to provide a consistent legislative framework implementing the integrated approach.
The use of a Regulation is considered to be the appropriate legal instrument to ensure compliance whilst not requiring the transposition into Member States’ legislation. The Community objective applies to the Community as a whole. It is, therefore, necessary to ensure that a uniform approach is applied in all Member States. Further, a harmonised approach is required in order to avoid distortions of competition which could have impacts on the internal market.
·
The implementation of the proposed Regulation will be carried out together with that of Regulation (EC) No 443/2009 on CO2 from passenger cars as both share many features like, for example, monitoring manufacturers' performance against their CO2 reduction targets and, where necessary, administration of excess emissions premiums provided for in the legislation. Expenditure already foreseen under the LIFE+ programme is considered sufficient, in particular because of the limited size of the market for light commercial vehicles compared to that for passenger cars. Therefore, this new proposal for CO2 emissions from light-duty vehicles does not require additional financial resources.
· Repeal of existing legislation
The adoption of the proposal will not lead to the repeal of existing legislation.
· Review/revision/sunset clause
The proposal includes a review clause.
· European Economic Area
The proposed act concerns an EEA matter and should therefore extend to the European Economic Area.