CO₂ emissions from new cars and vans in Europe increased in 2018

3 June 2020

The average CO₂ emissions of new cars vehicles registered in the EU-28 and Iceland in 2018 increased by 2.3 g/km, according to final data released by the European Environment Agency. This represents an upward revision of ~0.4 g/km from the provisional 2018 data published last year.

After a steady decline from 2010 to 2016, by almost 22 g/km, average CO₂ emissions from new cars increased by 0.4 g/km in 2017 and by 2.3 g/km in 2018 to reach 120.8 g/km. While this is 7% below the 2018 target of 130 g/km, a considerable 27% gap must still be filled to reach the target of 95 g/km that applies from 2020.

Similarly, average CO₂ emissions of new vans had decreased by 24 g/km between 2012 and 2017, but increased from 156.1 g/km in 2017 to 157.9 g/km in 2018. While this is 10% below the 2018 target of 175 g/km, average emissions were still 7% above the 2020 target.

With the stricter EU fleet-wide CO₂ emission targets of 95 g/km for cars and 147 g/km for vans entering into effect from this year, manufacturers will have to improve the fuel efficiency of their fleet and accelerate the deployment of zero- and low-emission vehicles, said the European Commission in a news release. In addition, this should be accompanied by the necessary investments in recharging infrastructure and other incentive schemes in Member States.

The increase in average CO₂ emissions for new passenger cars between 2017 and 2018 was affected by two main market trends:

• The shift away from diesel to petrol cars continued in 2018, with the diesel car share decreasing by 9 percentage points. In 2018, 60% of the new fleet consisted of petrol cars while diesel cars represented 36%.
• At the same time, a segment shift took place towards larger and heavier sport utility vehicles (SUV) powered by petrol. Between 2017 and 2018, the market share of SUVs increased from 29% up to 35%.

The increase in average CO₂ emissions of new vans in 2018 compared to 2017 was affected by a combination of different factors, including an increase of the average vehicle mass (+1%), of the average engine capacity (+1%) and of vehicle size (average wheelbase +1.4%). Diesel vehicles continue to make up the vast majority of the new vans fleet (94.7%), but the share of petrol vans has increased by 1.2%.

It should be noted that the above figures reflect the pre-Covid-19 trends, which perhaps may continue into 2019. What happens in 2020, with vehicle sales severely depressed and the auto industry struggling for survival, is anyone’s guess.

Source: European Environment Agency | European Commission