EU looks to cut CO2 of vans through speed limiters
Greenwise Staff
4th May 2010
The European Parliament is considering introducing mandatory speed limiters for commercial vehicles, such as vans and light trucks, in a bid to cut their carbon emissions.
The recommendation is set out in a paper seen by Reuters news agency, which will be debated by
EU member countries over the coming weeks.
The document says
speed limiters would be a "cheap and effective way of immediately lowering emissions" of
light commercial vehicles, according to Reuters.
"These vehicles are almost exclusively used for commercial purposes and do not need to exceed 120 kilometres per hour," the paper reads.
Vans account for around 12 per cent of the EU's total
carbon emissions and the
European Commission (EC) wants to introduce a new law to reduce them. The
legislation would set van makers a fleet average target for their CO2 emissions of 175 grams per kilometre (g/km), to be phased in between 2014 and 2016. By 2020, it wants to see this further reduced to 135 g/km by 2020.
EC publishes clean and energy efficient vehicles planLast week, the EC published its strategy to deploy
zero and low carbon vehicles in Europe. A key aim of the strategy is to strengthen the competitiveness of the European car industry by linking it to
clean technologies. The strategy also aims to achieve common standards for electrical cars so they can be charged anywhere in Europe.
To achieve its objectives, the EC is among other things proposing to support research and innovation in green technologies and the introduction of incentives to encourage the take- up of clean and energy efficient vehicles.
"The new European strategy will provide a supportive framework based on a twin-track approach: improving the efficiency of conventional engines and making ultra low carbon mobility a reality for European consumers," commented EC vice-president in charge of industry and entrepreneurship Antonio Tajani on the new strategy. "Including all types of vehicles in the strategy will ensure that this parallel approach will strike the right balance between securing the future competitiveness of our car manufacturing industry without compromising our long-term goals for the reduction of greenhouse gases and other pollutants."
Related news:Green road transport newsGreen regulation newsGreen technology newsRelated links:www.europa.eu