Sustainable Switch Climate Focus: EU softens car emissions targets

Reuters

10-05-2025

This is an excerpt of the Sustainable Switch Climate Focus newsletter, where we make sense of companies and governments grappling with climate change on Fridays.
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After focusing on the myriad environment, social and governance rollbacks in the United States this week, today's newsletter turns its attention to Europe.
This week, the European Parliament gave its backing to soften its EU CO2 emissions targets for cars and vans and reduce potential fines for automakers.
Following heavy lobbying, the European Commission proposed allowing automakers to meet the targets based on their average emissions over the period 2025-2027, rather than just this year.
EU lawmakers voted by 458 votes to 101 in favor of the change. There were 14 abstentions.
European manufacturers had warned that enforcing the targets this year could have resulted in fines of up to 15 billion euros ($17 billion), given the goals rely on selling more electric vehicles – a segment they say is lagging behind Chinese and U.S. rivals.
Critics say the auto industry has had seven years to prepare for the 2025 targets and that the 15 billion euro estimate for fines is vastly inflated.
The European Commission also wants to 'slash red tape' in its energy policies, according to draft conclusions for a summit of EU energy ministers next month seen by Reuters.
The draft conclusions backed the plans to simplify more EU laws, and said this "is expected to have a profound impact on lowering the regulatory burden for companies in the energy sector and energy intensive industries while maintaining alignment with the original policy objectives."
The EU's simplification efforts have met mixed reactions so far.
Some industries have backed the plans as a boost to their competitiveness, while large companies said they offered little relief from bureaucracy, and some investors and campaigners criticized the weakening of sustainability rules as a blow to Europe's efforts to curb climate change.
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