European Parliament and EU member countries have reached a deal to ban the sale of latest petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035.
The European Parliament and EU member countries have reached a deal to ban the sale of latest petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035.
European Union negotiators sealed on Thursday night the primary agreement of the bloc’s “Fit for 55” package arrange by the Commission to attain the EU’s climate goals of cutting emissions of the gases that cause global warming by 55 percent over this decade.
The European Parliament said the deal is a “clear signal ahead of the UN COP27 Climate Change Conference that the EU is serious about adopting concrete laws to succeed in the more ambitious targets set out within the EU Climate Law”.
In keeping with the bloc’s data, transport is the one sector where greenhouse gas emissions have increased up to now 30 years, rising 33.5 percent between 1990 and 2019.
Passenger cars are a major polluter, accounting for 61 percent of total CO2 emissions from EU road transport.
The EU desires to drastically reduce gas emissions from transport by 2050 and promote electric cars, but a report from the bloc’s external auditor showed last 12 months that the region is lacking the suitable charging stations.
“It is a historic decision because it sets for the primary time a transparent decarbonisation pathway – with targets in 2025, 2030 and 2035 and aligned with our goal of climate neutrality by 2050,” said Pascal Canfin, the chair of the environment committee of the European Parliament.
“This sector, which accounts for 16 percent of European emissions in the meanwhile, will likely be carbon neutral by 2050,” Canfin added.
World leaders agreed in Paris in 2015 to work to maintain global temperatures from increasing greater than 2C (3.6F), and ideally not more than 1.5C (2.7F) by the tip of the century.
Scientists even the less ambitious goal will likely be missed by a large margin unless drastic steps are taken to scale back emissions.
Too late
Greenpeace said the 2035 deadline is just too late to limit global warming to below 1.5C (2.7F).
“The EU is taking the scenic route, and that route ends in disaster,” said Greenpeace EU transport campaigner Lorelei Limousin.
“A European 2035 phase-out of fossil fuel-burning cars isn’t quick enough: Recent cars with internal combustion engines must be banned by 2028 at the most recent,” she said.
“The announcement is an ideal example of where politicians can bask in a feel-good headline that masks the fact of their repeated failures to act on climate,” Limousin added.
The European Parliament and member states will now must formally approve the agreement before it comes into force.
