The European Parliament’s environment committee voted today in favour of an agreement on cars’ CO₂ emission cuts. It comes almost 6 months after an earlier, better deal was scuppered in July by a German-led coalition.

Under the new deal, 95% of new cars sold from 2020 onwards will have to comply with the target and 100% will from 2021. This is equivalent to a target of 98g/km in 2020 - a weakening of 3 grams from what was agreed before summer.

‘Super-credits’ (favourable weightings for cleaner cars within a manufacturer’s range) are allowed from 2020 to 2022, but capped at 7.5g/km over that period.

Another decision is that the Commission will need to come forward with a proposal by the end of 2015 to define a post-2020 targets.

BEUC supports tighter CO₂ standards as they would lessen harm to the environment and a significant reduction of the cost of driving. However, consumers and the environment were clearly not central to policy-makers’ concerns. It is unprecedented that a country reneged on such a deal and pressured other governments into accepting weaker targets just to favour their national industry. 

The European Parliament is due to formally sign off on the deal in a plenary vote in February 2014.