Why your car’s fuel or electricity consumption matters to achieve the EU climate goals

Why your car’s fuel or electricity consumption matters to achieve the EU climate goals

About this event:

In July, the European Commission will present its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% in 2030. Billed ‘Fit for 55’, this plan should tackle CO2 emissions from cars, and therefore help people reduce their fuel consumption.

When buying a car, people are informed about how much fuel their vehicle is expected to consume. However, such information is based on lab tests, which tend to underestimate real-world consumption. Drivers therefore end up paying more for fuel and emit more CO2 than might be expected. As a result, consumer organisations have been calling for authorities to strictly monitor fuel consumption.

A recent amendment to EU legislation foresees the use of on-board fuel consumption meters to monitor this real-world versus lab gap. Through these devices, car makers and EU Member States will report fuel consumption data to the European Commission as of 2022.

A consortium of consumer organisations and partners has in parallel launched MILE21: an online tool that allows drivers to keep track of their own fuel use and gives them tips to reduce it. MILE21 also compares the real fuel consumption and emissions values for a wide range of car models based on data recorded by consumers across Europe. MILE21 exemplifies how future data, generated by the on-board devices, could be useful for consumer information purposes.

Easy comparison of real-world values is vital for consumers to choose the cleanest and most efficient models. Information at the point of sale – in the form of the EU’s car labelling scheme – is lacklustre. This is unlikely to be improved by the ‘Fit for 55’ plan. And yet this information is part and parcel of making EU climate policy, which must be achieved in the real world and not a laboratory, a success.

Join us to discuss:

  • The value of real-world fuel consumption, and its monitoring
  • How EU legislation (the Car Labelling Directive) can be reworked to provide better information to consumers about the environmental performance of their cars

Speakers include:

  • Luisa Crisigiovanni, Altroconsumo (Italian consumer organisation)
  • Franz Greil, Arbeiterkammer (Austrian consumer organisation)
  • Peter Mock, International Council on Clean Transportation
  • Diogo Pinto, Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Region 1
  • Monique Goyens, BEUC

When? 8 July 2021 | 10:00 - 11:15 (CEST, Brussels time) | online

>>> REGISTER HERE <<<

 

MILE21 stands for ‘More information less emissions, Empowering Consumers for a Greener 21st Century’. The project partners include Altroconsumo (Italy), the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), DECO Proteste (Portugal), Emisia (Greece), the International Council on Clean Transportation (Germany), OCU (Spain), Test Achats/Test Aankoop (Belgium), and TNO - Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast-Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Netherlands).

Contact Card
Robin Loos, BEUC
Robin Loos
Senior Sustainable Transport Officer, Deputy Head of Sustainability