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.

As part of the roadmap to achieve its climate-neutrality goal, the European Commission will come forward with a proposal for revised CO2 targets for new passenger cars and vans by the middle of 2021.

This briefing paper identifies several possible levels of stringency for the post-2021 CO2 standards in the European Union for light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles and compares them against economy-wide greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2030 and 2050, as well as the 2050 target for transport sector emission reductions in the EU Green Deal.

The European vehicle market statistics pocketbook offers a statistical portrait of passenger car and light commercial vehicle fleets in the European Union, updated annually. The emphasis is on vehicle technologies and emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants.

This briefing paper summarizes and analyzes preliminary data for 2015 recently released by the European Environment Agency (EEA) on CO2 emissions from new passenger cars in the EU. The EEA data show that the mandatory emission reduction target set by the EU legislation for 2015 has been met on average.