Average carbon dioxide emissions from cars continue to fall in Europe, according to preliminary figures released by the European Environment Agency (EEA) on Wednesday.
Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said "Europe's car manufacturers are delivering towards the 2015 CO2 targets. These data confirm that there's steady progress in improving fuel efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions from new cars. This is a good sign for the capacity of Europe's car industry to innovate and thus maintain global competitiveness while making their products more efficient."
EEA published provisional data on average CO2 emissions from 12.8 million new passenger cars registered in the EU in 2011. The average CO2 emissions from these cars were 135.7 grams CO2 per kilometer, which is 4.6g CO2/km less than in 2010 - a reduction of 3.3 %.
2011 is the last year before the CO2 targets become binding. The phase-in of the mandatory target of 130gCO2/km to be met in 2015 will start on the basis of the data for 2012.
According to EEA analysis, a combination of changes in buying behavior, improved technology and engine efficiency was mostly responsible for this reduction.
Car manufacturers will now be asked to verify these preliminary figures before they are confirmed by the Commission later this year.
In the EU, CO2 emissions from road transport have increased by 23 % since 1990, and are now responsible for approximately one fifth of the EU's total emissions.
In order to cut greenhouse gas emissions from transport, carmakers have a collective target for the average car sold in the EU to emit a maximum of 130g CO2/km by 2015 and 95g CO2/km by 2020.
by RTT Staff Writer
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