The European Commission’s “Fit for 55,” regulatory proposals are intended to secure a European Union (EU) economy-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction of at least 55% by 2030. One of the regulatory proposals adopted by the EC is to amend the mandatory CO2 emission targets for new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (vans).

This briefing paper provides an overview of CO2 emission levels of new passenger cars in the European Union in 2020 based on a preliminary dataset recently released by the European Environment Agency.

The report highlights the limitations of current emissions standards and provides detailed recommendations to overcome them. The recommendations cover several topics where the current light-duty vehicle emission standards should be strengthened.

This briefing provides an overview of CO2 emission levels of new passenger cars in the European Union in 2018 based on a preliminary dataset recently released by the European Environment Agency (EEA). The dataset showed that new cars sold in the EU in 2018 had average CO2 emissions of 121 g CO2/km, 2g/km higher than in 2017.

For this paper, the CO2 emissions levels of two versions of the Volkswagen Golf, one diesel (Golf TDI) and one gasoline (Golf TSI), were compared both in laboratory tests and in on-road measurements under real-world driving conditions.

For this study, a C-segment passenger vehicle, equipped with a gasoline direct injection engine and compliant with the Euro 6c standard, was tested on the chassis dynamometer over the regulatory NEDC and WLTC cycles, and over two RDE-like cycles. The tests were performed at different ambient conditions and with both cold and warm engines.

The eco-innovations mechanism rewards innovative technologies that produce real-world CO2 savings beyond what is measured over the standardized test cycle during vehicle type approval.

On November 8, 2017, the European Commission (EC) published its regulatory proposal for post-2020 carbon dioxide targets for new passenger cars and light-commercial vehicles (vans). The proposed regulation would be the third set of mandatory vehicle CO2 performance standards in the European Union (EU).