Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: A Community strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars and improve fuel economy` (97/C 89/04)

On 7 May 1996 the Commission decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the above-mentioned communication.

The Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 8 January 1997. The rapporteur was Mr Gafo-Fernandez.

At its 342nd plenary session (meeting of 29 January 1997) the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 80 votes to five with four abstentions.

1. Introduction

1.1. The purpose of this communication is to establish a strategy, based on a package of measures with a set timetable, to reduce the fuel consumption of passenger cars and at the same time to reduce CO2 emissions by such vehicles. It is in line with the agreements reached at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and Berlin in 1995.

1.2. The target is an average fuel consumption, under standard conditions, for newly registered vehicles of 5 l/100 km for petrol cars and 4,5 l/100 km for diesel cars by the year 2005. This has already been acknowledged by the Council of Environment Ministers which supported this proposal at its meeting in June 1996.

1.3. In its document the Commission recognizes that this measure has other implications, namely:

- the increased fuel economy will bring with it a reduction in emissions of other pollutants associated with CO2, such as NOx, CO, HC and particulates;

- a reduction in noise pollution;

- potentially adverse effects on vehicle safety;

- a reduction in external energy dependence;

- the need to speed up the introduction of new technologies and materials in the motor vehicle sector in order to be able to achieve this fuel efficiency.

1.4. To achieve these objectives, the Commission proposes a package of measures. In particular:

- fiscal measures, through selective taxation of vehicles (acquisition tax, annual road tax, fuel tax);

- voluntary agreements with the auto industry (manufacturers and importers) to reduce the fuel consumption of new vehicles gradually;

- stepping up RTD, especially through the Task Force on the Car of Tomorrow set up by the European Commission under the IVth framework programme;

- energy labelling of cars to facilitate 'sustainable choice` by new purchasers.

2. General comments

2.1. The Committee approves and supports the Commission initiative which ties in with the general philosophy of 'sustainable growth`, based in this case on rational energy use and a transport policy favourable to the use of public transport ().

2.2. The Commission's strategy hinges on action on one of the variables (fuel efficiency of new vehicles) which determine total CO2 emissions in the transport sector. There are however others - such as improved traffic management, more intensive use of public transport and cutting out unnecessary journeys - which have not been included in this communication.

2.3. The Committee would have welcomed a reference to other relevant documents recently approved by the Commission itself, such as the green papers on transport and fair prices in the transport sector and the proposed directives based on the findings of the Auto Oil programme ().

2.4. The Committee welcomes the fact that the Commission focuses its strategy not only on the fiscal element, which takes up a substantial part of the document, but also, as its representatives reiterated at Committee meetings, on an effort to balance these measures with voluntary agreements and technological development ().

2.5. The suggestion put forward in point 25 of the Commission document, namely that it is necessary to increase fuel taxes to offset improved fuel efficiency, is a sensitive issue. The Committee considers that the auto sector is highly taxed at the present time, but that it is still possible to restructure these taxes in such a way as to protect the environment.

2.6. The Committee agrees with the Commission that consumers do not always use their cars appropriately. For example, car pools (i.e. people sharing a car to get to work) have so far met with little success. Firms, too, must give greater consideration to the transport of their workforces to and from the place of work. The growing traffic congestion each day of the week makes it necessary to find solutions.

2.7. Similarly, there is often no alternative to cars and lorries, because public passenger transport (by road and rail) and rail freight transport are not so highly developed. The Council and the Member States should devise a plan for making up the leeway in rail transport. There is no time to lose.

2.8. The fiscal unanimity required by the treaties, and the application of the subsidiarity principle at national and local level (where in some cases it is the local authorities who are the beneficiaries of the annual road tax), make it difficult to implement a fiscal strategy drawn up solely at Community level. To reduce the distortions to free competition, consideration should be given an increase in the minimum rate of excise duty on mineral oil.

2.9. For these reasons the Committee would recommend a fiscal strategy based on the following elements:

- maintenance of tax burden on motor vehicles and their use at present level, possibly restructuring it in the interests of environmental protection;

- adoption of the legal form of a framework directive to implement this strategy; the Member States should have ample room for manoeuvre in applying the directive, while still respecting its general objectives;

- at the same time, carry out further research into the implications for consumer behaviour and conduct consumer education campaigns to encourage consumers to choose the most appropriate vehicle and use it in a manner compatible with the protection of the environment;

- within the framework of this overall Community initiative on motor vehicle taxation, recommendation of a system of selective tax concessions which are centred on taxation in relation to choice of car (registration tax and annual road and circulation taxes) and are compatible with the single market and the principle of tax neutrality at national level.

2.10. The Committee would stress that this strategy must encourage consumers freely to choose, on the basis of clear information and appropriate tax incentives, those vehicles with relatively lower CO2 emissions.

2.11. Besides these fiscal measures, the Committee thinks that it would be wise to encourage a voluntary agreement with European industry and the importers to achieve these CO2 emission reductions through an increase in vehicle efficiency. This agreement should be based on the following elements:

- the objectives will have to take account of technical feasibility and economic impact (availability of model, public acceptance, export opportunities). It should be possible to achieve the proposed reductions (some 25 % on average) in all existing market segments taken together;

- a precise timetable to be drawn up, to ensure that the consumption targets are met as soon as technically feasible;

- an independent inspection system to be set up to monitor compliance with the voluntary agreements and to assess the progress achieved on both the efficiency of new vehicles and the rate of renewal of the vehicle fleet;

- the industry to be involved more closely with the Task Force on the Car of Tomorrow, making these consumption targets one of its priorities;

- the compatibility of this strategy with both EU and WTO competition rules to be assessed;

- the important aspects of labelling to be included in these voluntary agreements so as to strengthen the comparative information aspect and improve the process of choice by future users.

2.12. If the level of compliance with the voluntary agreements is inadequate, the Commission should prepare a legislative framework to make the measures proposed in the present strategy mandatory.

Brussels, 29 January 1997.

The President of the Economic and Social Committee

Tom JENKINS

() ESC opinion, OJ No C 153, 28. 5. 1996.

() White Paper - A strategy for revitalizing the Community's railways - COM(96) 421 final; ESC opinion CES 1291/96, 28. 11. 1996; Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels and amending Council Directive 93/12/EEC and Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive relating to measures to be taken against air pollution by emissions from mot vehicles and amending Council Directives 70/156/EEC and 70/220/EEC - COM(96) 248 final.

() ESC opinion, OJ No C 174, 17. 6. 1996.