The voluntary agreement between the European Commission and vehicle manufacturers to reduce cars' carbon dioxide emissions is weak, unambitious and unenforceable, said a scathing study released today by Europe's largest environment coalition. In 1997, the European Commission, the executive arm of the 15 member European Union, committed to reducing the emissions of C02 and five other greenhouse gases by eight percent on 1990 levels by 2010. To help reach this target, agreed in Kyoto, Japan, as part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the European Commission negotiated a voluntary agreement with European, Japanese and Korean car manufacturers to reduce C02 emissions from vehicles. According to the European Commission, such a reduction will contribute about 15 percent of the total emissions reductions required from the European under the Kyoto Protocol.
Vehicle exhaust contributes significantly to Europe's greenhouse gas emissions.
Today's study presents numerous shortcomings with the agreements. The EEB claims that compared to 1990 levels, CO2 emissions will actually rise by 20 to 30 percent by 2005, even if the manufacturers adhere to their voluntary commitments. For this reason, the EEB says the agreements are unambitious, noting that longer term objectives beyond 2009 were not even considered. The voluntary agreements have dubious legal quality, which creates uncertainty instead of sound policy. The negotiations establishing the automobile industry s voluntary agreements were not democratic.