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Brussels wants to stimulate the takeover of electric cars by imposing a deadline to phase out the combustion engine and get vehicle manufacturers to pay a carbon price as part of a plan to decarbonise the EU economy.
Frans Timmermans, vice-president for green policy at the European Commission, told the Financial Times that Brussels was preparing a multidisciplinary strategy to reduce the cost of electric vehicles and make cleaner cars “accessible to all Europeans”.
The commission will present a series of measures this month to ensure the EU can meet its target of reducing average carbon emissions by 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
Timmermans said the measures would include strengthening the CO2 emission standards of new cars sold over the next decade and a proposal for carmakers to pay for pollution according to the EU-market-driven emissions trading scheme. .
“We have to do these two things to stimulate the introduction of electric vehicles. We don’t think just announcing a deadline would do the trick, but to say that in the industry, as we’ve been doing all along, that we’ll come up with stricter emissions standards, is actually sending the message and pushing them to that. direction, ”he said.
An EU official told FT that Brussels was considering a 100% reduction in average CO2 emissions from new cars by 2035, making it a de facto deadline for the sale of the latest petrol cars. and diesel in the EU. From Germany The VolkswagenLast week it announced it would aim to stop the manufacture of combustion engine vehicles in Europe by 2035.
EU vehicle emission standards faced fierce pressure from vehicle manufacturers when a target of 37.5% CO2 reduction was first agreed for 2030 in 2018. It is likely to be revised up to 60% by 2030 and 100% by 2035, the official said.
The EU aims to become the first major region to achieve zero net carbon emissions by 2050. Brussels will propose 13 legislative measures on 14 July to translate the target into a legal reality. The legislation will have to be approved by a majority of MEPs and the 27 EU member states to enter into force.
Timmermans said the auto industry’s approach had “completely changed” as the industry invested in low-emission battery technology. Electric vehicles accounted for around 11% of new vehicle registrations in the EU in 2020, three times as many as the previous year, according to the European Environment Agency.
“The car industry has really adopted the idea that they need to decarbonise. There will always be a discussion at what pace, but I think they have understood that this is the way forward, ”he said.
Timmermans said the existing stock of “dirtier” vehicles on the road should also be discouraged by including carmakers in the block’s carbon pricing system. Brussels is preparing plans to include transport and housing in a smaller, cap-and-trade carbon market, where sectors have to buy and sell carbon credits based on their emissions.
The carbon price proposal has been criticized by governments in the poorest parts of the EU for disproportionately penalizing lower-income consumers who cannot easily switch to electric vehicles or alternative modes of green transport.
Timmermans said Brussels would try to convince member states of the system’s merits by proposing a Climate Action Social Fund that would use a “substantial” share of the housing and carbon market revenues to cushion the blow of the most affected households.
“It has to be substantial, so you can mitigate the consequences for those who would be unequally affected by the changes,” he said.
Timmermans, a Dutch Social Democrat, said that while there was fear of repeating 2018 in France “yellow vests ” opposite reaction in the face of projected increases in petrol taxes, emissions from the transport sector had increased in recent years. Poor Eastern European countries have also warned that their fossil fuel-dependent economies are at risk of being penalized by the rapid rate of decarbonisation.
“The feeling of urgency is not the same throughout Europe. If your general concern is [making it to] at the end of the month, then the end of life on Earth is not something you think about every day, ”he said.
“Everything we present must be credible from a social point of view. It is, without a doubt, the greatest transforming operation of living memory. It will be difficult. ”
The commission will also respond to demands for a more complete EU-wide electricity charging infrastructure after the research showed that three countries (France, the Netherlands and Germany) hosted 70% of all vehicle charging points on the block.
Timmermans said the current EU target of 1 million recharging points for 2025 was “modest” and that Brussels would propose stricter requirements for recharging points within smaller geographical neighborhoods by the end of this year. month.
“We need to make sure that all Europeans can travel in an electric vehicle and charge it at a reasonable distance from where they should be or where they live,” he said.
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