MEPs accused of trying to water down car emission rules

The European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy was accused of doing the car industry's bidding after voting in favour of proposals that would significantly weaken planned fuel-efficiency standards.

Under proposals to be voted on by the full European Parliament before the end of the year, the European Commission is seeking to introduce binding targets for 2012 that would require the average new car to produce carbon emissions of just 130g/km.

However, last night the influential Industry, Research and Energy Committee voted narrowly in favour of a package of changes to the proposed legislation that green groups said would water down the new standards.

Under the Committee's proposals, which will now be considered by the full parliament, car makers would be faced with a new long-term target to cut average carbon emissions to 95g/km by 2020. However, penalties for non-compliance with the proposed 2012 standard would be lowered and "phased in" up to 2015, effectively giving manufacturers two more years to comply with the rules.

The Committee also proposed a new means of measuring vehicle carbon emissions that would take account of so-called "eco-innovations", such as onboard computers that advise drivers when to change gear.

Environmental lobby group Transport & Environment said that while such technologies can help cut emissions, there is no way of measuring their real-world impact and therefore the official measurement of a car's carbon efficiency should be based on verifiable improvements to the vehicle's weight, fuel efficiency and aerodynamics.

"The industry committee wants loopholes so wide you could drive a gas-guzzling SUV through them," said Kerstin Meyer of Transport & Environment. "If their proposals go unchecked by their colleagues in the environment committee, and EU environment ministers, the legislation will be almost completely meaningless."

Friends of the Earth transport campaigner Tony Bosworth said that while the long-term 95g/km target provided a "ray of light", the gradual phasing in of penalties for non-compliance meant that manufacturers would be allowed to make only negligible improvements to fuel efficiency over the next four years.

"One of the proposals on the table is that compliance would initially apply to only 70 per cent of a manufacturers' fleet," he explained. "If you average that out across their fleets it would mean that by 2012 the industry would only have to cut emissions from 158g/km to 150g/km."

He added that the onus was now on the environment committee to propose tighter standards when it votes on the legislation next week.

The news follows hot on the heels of a major poll of 5,000 people commissioned by Friends of the Earth, which found that 87 per cent were in favour of measures to cut the fuel consumption of new cars by a quarter. More than two thirds said that such standards would help boost the economy by reducing the amount motorists spend on fuel.