Lawmakers in the European Parliament plenary voted Wednesday to mandate that all new car and van sales should be zero emissions from 2035 as part of efforts to clean up road transport.
Lawmakers backed the final report on revised vehicle CO2 emission standards legislation with 339 in favor, 249 against and with 24 abstentions.
The legislation is a key part of the Fit for 55 package and mandates that carmakers should reduce their fleetwide emission averages by 100 percent from 2035, with interim steps in 2025 and 2030. Parliament’s position maintains the Commission’s original 2035 phaseout date.
The final legal text now needs to be worked out in talks with the Council. Environment ministers are set to sign off on their version of the legislation at a summit in Luxembourg on June 28.
An alternative amendment pushed in plenary by the European People’s Party would have set the 2035 emissions reduction target at 90 percent without any clear engine end date but that was rejected. The plan would have allowed the continued sale of a limited number of combustion-engine vehicles but was fiercely opposed by green groups.
Dutch liberal rapporteur Jan Huitema had also pushed for an extra 2027 interim target to spur industry to speed up the production of clean cars, but that was rejected by MEPs.
Source: POLITICO
