Amendment of European CO2 Standards for Cars and Vans

The European Commission published the “Industrial Action Plan for the European automotive sector” which outlines actions and “concrete measures to help secure global competitiveness of the European automotive industry”.

A key measure is the amendment of the CO2 standard for cars and vans which required a 15% reduction in 2025 compared to a 2021 baseline. The reduction is maintained but the industry is allowed to meet the standards over 2025 through 2027. The justification for the change provided is the slower uptake of battery electric vehicles with (0 g-CO2/km CO2) in 2024, which effectively makes the target more difficult to meet. The amendment is expected to help the industry avoid significant fines. 

There are other strategic measures outlined to accelerate leadership in batteries, infrastructure and critical materials, and enable a faster development of connected and autonomous vehicles, amongst other topics.

MOBILITYNOTES MEMBERS: Scroll below for a downloadable summary, which includes more details on the anticipated impact of these changes.