Cars sold in 2013 were
4 % more efficient than the year before,
according to provisional data. Average carbon
dioxide emissions per kilometre have continued
to fall, so in 2013 the European Union fleet
already collectively met its legal target
for 2015.
The average car sold
last year was almost 10 % more efficient
than the average car sold in 2010, when
monitoring started.
Hans Bruyninckx, EEA
Executive Director
The average CO2 emissions
level of a new car sold in 2013 was 127
grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre, significantly
below the 2015 target of 130g, according
to provisional data from the European Environment
Agency (EEA). However, manufacturers will
have to keep reducing emissions levels to
meet the target of 95g CO2/km by 2021.
"The average car
sold last year was almost 10 % more efficient
than the average car sold in 2010, when
monitoring started," EEA Executive
Director Hans Bruyninckx said. "This
is good news. But passenger transport still
generates a significant part of total greenhouse
gas emissions of the EU, so we need to think
about more sustainable transport systems
– the car cannot solve all our problems
in the 21st Century."
Key findings
Notably, new cars have
become more efficient despite an increase
in the average mass. The main drivers of
efficiency have been technological improvements
and higher sales of diesel cars, which typically
have lower emissions levels than petrol
equivalents. However, the preference for
diesel seems to be falling, making up just
over half the cars sold in 2013.
The efficiency gap between
new petrol and diesel vehicles has been
decreasing in recent years. Compared to
the current levels the average emissions
gap between petrol and diesel was more than
10 times higher in 2000.
There were 11.8 million
new cars registered in the EU in 2013. This
figure has declined continuously since its
peak in 2007, when 15.5 million vehicles
were registered.
There were 24 000 electric
vehicles registered in 2013, which is a
small fraction of the fleet but which represents
a 71 % increase on 2012 numbers. Around
31 000 plug-in hybrid cars were registered
in 2013.
On average, the most
efficient cars were bought in the Netherlands
(109g CO2/km), Greece (111g) and Portugal
(112g) while the country selling the least
efficient cars was Latvia (147g) followed
by Estonia (147g) and Bulgaria (142g). The
biggest cars, measured by mass, were bought
in Latvia, Sweden and Luxembourg. People
in Malta, Denmark and Greece bought the
lightest models on average.
There seem to be two
distinct markets in Europe, with older EU
Member States buying significantly more
efficient models compared to newer members.
+ More
Climate change: immediate
action is the best economic option
In the last decade,
global greenhouse gas emissions have increased
more rapidly than ever, and without global
cooperation they will continue to rise.
Reduction efforts will become increasingly
challenging and costly the longer they are
delayed, according to a new report from
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC).
The longer we delay
in mitigating climate change, the narrower
our options become. As the latest report
notes, we will need concerted global efforts
to both mitigate the problem and adapt.
Hans Bruyninckx, EEA
Executive Director
According to the IPCC
WGIII report "Mitigation of Climate
Change’ (part three of the IPCC Fifth Assessment
Report), global population growth and economic
growth have outpaced the emissions-reducing
effects of energy efficiency improvements
and decarbonisation of energy sources.
Reversing this trend
means emissions reductions should go beyond
the Cancún Pledges, and requires
major technological and institutional changes
to roll out renewable energy and other low
carbon technologies. Reducing deforestation
is also part of this effort. The report
also notes that it will be important to
change behaviour, in order to to reduce
the demand for energy and material consumption.
Immediate global action
would improve chances of keeping average
global warming below the internationally
agreed target of 2° C increase since
pre-industrial levels. Ambitious mitigation
is projected to have a minimal effect on
economic growth, reducing it by only approximately
0.06 percentage points a year.
If action is delayed,
keeping warming below this level will depend
on technologies to capture carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere, which are unproven
at a large scale and likely to be much more
expensive than emissions reductions. The
report also outlines additional benefits
from prompt action, including improved air
quality and energy security.
Hans Bruyninckx, EEA
Executive Director, said: “The longer we
delay in mitigating climate change, the
narrower our options become. As the latest
report notes, we will need concerted global
efforts to both mitigate the problem and
adapt. In Europe, we have seen how emissions
can be driven down – we need to boost these
efforts everywhere, in Europe and beyond.”
While global emissions
continue to rise, the trend in Europe is
different - emissions have fallen over the
last two decades. The European Union is
already close to its target of 20 % emissions
reduction by 2020. This success has been
due to a combination of factors, including
renewable energy policies, increasing energy
efficiency and economic circumstances, according
to EEA analysis. The European Commission
has proposed a new target for 2030, to reduce
emissions by 40 % of 11000 levels.
