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EU Lawmakers Back Ban On Petrol & Diesel Cars From 2035
On Tuesday, members of the European Parliament’s environment committee voted in favor of an EU plan to virtually ban new petrol and diesel car sales beginning in 2035, while voting against measures to set harsher CO2 emission reduction targets for the next decade.
The committee backed a proposal to limit CO2 emissions by 100 percent by 2035, making it impossible to sell new fossil-fuel vehicles in the EU’s 27 member states.
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The targets were proposed by the European Commission in July as part of a larger package of climate change policies, based on the assumption that new cars stay on the road for 10 to 15 years, implying that sales of polluting cars could end no later than 2035 without jeopardizing the bloc’s plan to achieve net zero emissions in all sectors by 2050.
The committee rejected a suggestion from certain MPs to raise the Commission’s objective for a 55 percent reduction in CO2 emissions from cars by 2030 compared to 2021 levels. They also did not support plans from other lawmakers to weaken the 2035 deadline.
“With CO2 standards, we create clarity for the car industry and stimulate innovation and investments for car manufacturers,” said Jan Huitema, the lead lawmaker on the policy, adding that it should make driving electric vehicles cheaper.
In the following months, the entire European Parliament will vote on the car CO2 proposals, after which legislators and EU countries must negotiate the final standards.
The EU hopes to reduce the quarter of EU emissions that come from transportation, which has been rising in recent years, by speeding up the transition to zero-emission electric vehicles.
Some industry groups have warned against banning a specific technology, saying that more ambitious targets can only be met if policymakers support a massive rollout of charging infrastructure. Companies like Volkswagen have already announced plans to stop selling combustion engine cars in Europe by 2035.
The EU is also debating whether countries should be required to provide public charging stations at regular intervals along important highways.
