Negotiators announced on Thursday that European Union (EU) countries and lawmakers reached an agreement on legislation to completely ban new CO2-emitting vehicles by 2035.
French MEP, Pascal Canfin, who chairs the European Parliament’s environment commission, tweeted:
We have just finished negotiations on CO2 levels for cars. Historic EU decision for the climate which definitively confirms the target of 100 percent zero-emission vehicles in 2035 with intermediary phases between 2025 and 2030.
The talks between representatives of the European Council representing the 27 EU countries and the European Parliament began on Thursday. The goal of the session was to reach an agreement regarding the fate of internal combustion engine (ICE) powered cars.
The talks underpin the EU’s transition to a carbon-free future, Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, stated. Cars currently account for 12% of total CO2 emissions in the EU, while transportation accounts for roughly a quarter, she added.
Conservative lawmakers and Germany have expressed reservations about some of the targets, fearing a lofty financial burden on EU automakers competing against global rivals with easier targets.
The European Parliament voted in June to ban all ICE-powered cars by 2035. This supported a commission proposal unveiled last year as part of an ambitious climate target of cutting emissions by 90 percent by 2035 compared to a baseline of 2021.
Around 12% of new cars sold in the EU are electric, as consumers shift away from CO2-emitting models. Meanwhile, China, the world’s largest automobile market, hopes that by 2035, at least half of all new cars will be electric, plug-in hybrid, or hydrogen-powered.
