Brussels to ban sales of diesel, petrol and hybrid cars by 2035
The plenary session of the European Parliament on Tuesday gave the green light to the agreement between institutions reached last autumn to ensure that from 2035 all new cars and vans marketed in the European Union will be “zero emissions”, which in practice will mean a ban on the marketing of combustion vehicles, including petrol, diesel and hybrid cars.
After adoption in the plenary session in Strasbourg (France) by 340 votes in favour, 279 against and 21 abstentions, only the formal approval by the EU-27 remains for these new rules to enter into force.
The new rule to ban the sale of petrol, diesel and hybrid cars is part of the climate package that the European Union wants to promote this term of office to reduce polluting emissions in the bloc by at least 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990) and is the first concrete measure of the battery of initiatives that went ahead.
Among the key elements of the reform is the commissioning of a new methodology to collect and evaluate data on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the light-duty vehicle fleet over the entire life cycle of vehicles sold in the single market.
The European Commission is to present this methodology by 2025 at the latest, including with legislative reforms if necessary for its development.
Brussels is also mandated with this new legislation to produce a bi-annual report from 2025 onwards to assess whether progress towards the binding zero emissions target is being made at the right pace across the EU as a whole; an analysis that should also assess the impact of the reform on consumers and employment as well as the evolution of the second-hand car market.
In monitoring the emissions of new vehicles, EU experts will monitor the gap between emission limit values and actual fuel and energy consumption data in order to gradually adjust the average specific CO2 emissions of manufacturers from 2030 onwards.
The EPP is against the end of petrol and diesel: more expensive cars, thousands of job losses and a decline in European industry.
In the eyes of the EPP, as explained by its spokesman in the negotiations, Jens Gieseke, the ban on petrol and diesel engines will mean “more expensive” new cars, the loss of “thousands of jobs” and will lead to the “decline” of the European industry. “Europe is driving its car industry into a dead end,” she said.
The European Parliament’s member for Ciudadanos, Susana Solís, expressed support for the transition to electric cars, although she warned of the need for accompanying measures to transform the industry, especially in regions such as “Castilla y León, Navarra, Aragón and Galicia”, where “thousands of families” depend on the sector, she said.
