Peter Liese: Proposal of the European Commission is a good basis for negotiations / Demand for 60 % reduction is complete nonsense
The environmental policy spokesman, Dr. Peter Liese, of the EPP-Group in the European Parliament referred to the European Commission proposal regarding the reduction of CO2 emissions of cars, which was published on Wednesday, as a good basis for negotiations. The Commission proposed that the CO2 emissions should be reduced by 15 percent until 2025 and by 30 percent until 2030. Demands by the Greens and environmentalists for a reduction of 40 or even 60 Percent were not considered in the proposal. At the same time there should be incentives to have a high amount of electric cars in the fleet. “The transport sector has to contribute more our climate goals and I believe that the worldwide trend towards electric cars is unstoppable. Therefore, it is important that the European manufacturers quickly adapt towards this development, otherwise this important branch in Europe possibly can’t keep pace with the competition. On the other hand, we have to be very careful and give the industry some time for the conversion. Especially a lot of automotive industries strongly depend on combustion-engines. We should also help them with the conversion. I think that the demands by the greens and environmental organizations for a reduction of 40 or even 60 percent are nonsense and completely unjustified”, Liese said.
Several other legislative processes and measure contribute more to the Paris climate goal of a 40 percent reduction. “The trilogue between the Parliament, Commission and Council will enact tonight a tightening of the European emission trading system, which covers 45 % of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. Passenger cars contribute only 12% of the greenhouse gases produced in the EU. Measures in the buildings area, which involve much less financial and political efforts, could contribute a lot more to climate protection. A simple regulation, that is in in force since the 19070s in some Member states, for the installation of thermostatic valves instead of regular hand valves would save the same amount of CO2 (31 Mt CO2) in a year as the CO2 car legislation between 2014 and 2020 (26.8 Mt CO2[1]) that was associated with substantial financial and politic problems”, Liese added.
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1http://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:70f46993-3c49-4b61-ba2f-77319c424cbd.0001.02/DOC_1&format=PDF, S. 51