European Union Ban on Cars, Vans Using Fossil Fuel to Begin in 2035, But Campaigner Says It’s Too Late

The European Union member states have nodded to the EU Parliament's proposal to completely ban the sale of cars and vans using fossil fuel by 2035.

Both the EU lawmakers and the 27 member states agreed on Thursday, Oct. 27, about the Commission's revised reduction plan for greenhouse gas emissions for all light vehicles and passenger cars.

In June, European lawmakers approved a plan to reduce the carbon dioxide emission of new cars and vans by 100 percent some 13 years from now.

Stop The Sale

A 100 percent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from the new vehicles under those categories will not happen without stopping the sale of gas-powered light vehicles. The lawmakers, instead, want the sale of vehicles with zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Jan Huitema, EU Parliament's lead negotiator, announced on Friday, Oct. 28, an agreement has been reached on an "ambitious revision of the targets for 2030 and supported a 100% target for 2035."

The agreement, Engadget quoted the lead negotiator, as an important step towards climate neutrality by 2050 and attaining more affordable green vehicles.

The Deal

The deal requires all new cars to comply with reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 55 percent over the 2021 levels. Light vehicles such as vans have to reduce their emissions by half.

Moving towards the goal, EU funds, according to the deal, should be devoted to the zero-emission vehicle transition.

A report to be published every two years beginning in 2025 will detail the EU's progress on road mobility with zero emissions.

Green Cars After 2035

It is possible some changes might be introduced to the plan after the Council and European Parliament will approve the agreement.

The EU, according to Reuters, plans to formulate a proposal that will outline the ways forward of selling cars running on clean fuel after 2035.

Before the deal, automakers have been looking forward to manufacturing zero-emission vehicles for some time now.

Governments around the world have already adopted measures to address the issue of climate change.

Several carmakers have already taken the path of manufacturing electric vehicles. Some of these carmakers are General Motors and Ford.

The American car manufacturing company pledged last year that all its consumer vehicles will be electric vehicles by 2030. General Motors also plans to have all of its light-duty vehicles attain zero emissions by 2035.

Ahead of COP27

The agreement, according to lawmakers, delivers the message of the EU's sincerity in adopting laws and measures to achieve the "ambitious targets set out in the EU Climate Law."

Lawmakers said the deal was significant because it was reached before the start of COP27 on Nov. 16-18.

World leaders will convene in Egypt for COP27, the United Nations' annual conference on climate change.

Historic Decision, But Too Late

Pascal Canfin, chair of the environmental committee of the Parliament, lauded the agreement as historic.

All the targets, he said, are steps in the right direction to achieve the EU's goal to become climate neutral by 2050.

But Greenpeace, a global campaign network, pointed out that the deadline set by the EU is too late.

The EU leaders took a route that is pleasing and attractive, Greenpeace said. And the route taken by the EU ends in disaster, it warned.

Greenpeace EU campaigner Lorelei Limousin said the agreement exemplifies a situation where the EU leaders grab the limelight while masking their indecisiveness to act on climate change.