PARIS -- A key European Union committee’s decision to reject calls for much deeper emissions cuts has disappointed environmental advocates, who pushed for new targets in the run-up to a 2035 deadline for automakers to sell only zero-emissions cars.
The European Parliament’s environment committee on Wednesday voted to ratify new rules for CO2 emissions from cars and light truck. They will now be debated by EU member states.
The provisions include a 20 percent cut from 2021 emissions in 2025 and a 55 percent cut in 2030, with a 100 percent cut in 2035 -- amounting to a ban on sales of internal-combustion vehicles at that point.
The 20 percent reduction in 2025 actually goes further than the 15 percent that was proposed in July 2021 under the European Commissions’s Fit for 55 package, which calls for a 55 percent cut in overall CO2 emissions by 2030, compared with 1990 levels.
The EU is seeking to be the first "climate neutral" continent by 2050 – the so-called European Green Deal.