She said: “I welcome today’s vote by the European Parliament in favour of significantly reducing CO2 emissions from vans. This Regulation will bring important fuel savings for van users. It also gives vehicle manufacturers greater certainty about the emission targets they need to reach. At the same time it will contribute to cleaner air and to achieve our climate targets.”

The European Parliament’s vote on 14 February formally approved an agreement on the draft legislation that was reached by the Parliament, the Council and the European Commission in December.

The agreed text requires manufacturers to limit CO2 emissions from new vans to a fleet average of 175 g/km. This target will be phased in from 2014 to 2017. It represents an emissions reduction of 14% compared to the 2007 average of 203 g/km.

The legislation also sets an emissions target for 2020 of 147 g/km, a 28% reduction from the 2007 level. The 2020 target is subject to confirmation when the regulation is reviewed in 2013.

Manufacturers which exceed the van targets will have to pay a fine of €95 per g/km, which is similar to the penalty set under the legislation on reducing emissions from new cars. The approved text gives manufacturers several flexibilities, such as credits for eco-innovations which they can count towards the emission target, the possibility to meet the targets jointly with other manufacturers and incentives for vehicles able to run on alternative fuels.

A super-credit scheme giving incentives for the production of particularly low-emitting vehicles (in practice electric and plug-in hybrid vans) will run for four years and will be limited to 25,000 vehicles per manufacturer. 

Vans account for around 12% of the European market for so-called light-duty vehicles (passenger cars and vans). Together, these vehicles are responsible for around 1.5% of total EU CO2 emissions.

Next steps
Once the Council has formally approved the agreement, probably within the next few weeks, the Regulation will be signed into law.