ACEA agreement

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The ACEA agreement refers to a voluntary agreement between the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) and the European Commission to limit the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted by passenger cars sold in Europe. Signed in 1998, the agreement seeks to achieve an average of 140 gram CO₂/km by 2008 for new passenger sold by the association's cars in Europe. This target represents a 25% reduction from the 1995 level of 186 g/km and is equivalent to a fuel economy of 5,8 litre petrol/100 km or 5,25 litre diesel/100 km.

Besides the agreement with ACEA, the European Commission also closed agreements with the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) and Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA). However, for the latter two the target date is 2009 instead of 2008 and as ACEA accounts for 86,4% of car sales in Europe, [1]the impact of the latter two is much smaller.

The ultimate EU target to which these agreements are to contribute, is to reach an average CO₂ emission of 120 g/km for all new passenger cars by 2012.

Having achieved only 160 g/km in 2004, the ACEA agreement has come under fire for likely failing to achieve its target, and the European Commission announced in late 2006 that it is working on a proposal for a legally binding commitment.

1 Implementation
2 Progress towards the target
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Implementation

The agreement defines fleet-average CO₂ emission targets from new cars sold in the European Union, to be reached collectively by the members of the association. CO₂ is the only gas covered by the agreements, other greenhouse gas emissions are currently not controlled. How the target is to be achieved is not specified, and are expected by the Commission to be mainly by technological developments and market changes linked to these developments.

Apart from the 140 g target, the ACEA should evaluate in 2003 the potential for additional fuel-efficiency improvements with a view to moving further towards the objective of 120 g/km CO₂ by 2012. Individual members of the ACEA should place on the market cars emitting 120 g/km CO2 or less by the year 2000. Moreover, the members of the ACEA should make every effort to achieve collectively an intermediate CO2 emission target in the range of 165 - 170 g/km CO₂.

Concerning costs, a report for the European Commission last year showed that the cost of meeting the EU’s own target for new cars of 120 grams of CO2 per kilometre would be on average € 577 per car[2], which could be earned back in a few years time due to the improved fuel economy implied in the reductions.

[edit] Progress towards the target

ACEA's progress towards the 140 gram target, based on the Commission's 2004 progress report.

According to the most recent data (2006) advocacy group European Federation for Transport and Environment argues that ACEA is failing their commitments. Having achieved only 160 gram/km in 2005, which constitutes 1% improvement per year, ACEA would have to achieve an unlikely 4-5% annual improvement over the remaining three years.

Criticism has also been landed from other sides. In 2005, the World Resources Institute (WRI) further criticised ACEA, saying European car companies were not fully disclosing their strategies to comply with the voluntary agreement on CO₂ reduction. "The problem with the ACEA Agreement is that nobody knows what the auto companies are planning to do to bring the industry to its 2008 target," said WRI's Amanda Sauer.

According to the Commission's 2004 progress report, ACEA already reached in 2000 the intermediate target range envisaged for 2003 and is since 2003 below the lower end of this range [3]. However, much of this improvement is attributed to a shift in the market towards diesel cars (which have better fuel economy) rather than technical improvements. The Commission in its report also expressed concern that the rate of improvement would need to rise to 3,3 % a year for ACEA.

In late 2006, the European Commission announced that it was working on a proposal for a new law to limit CO₂ emissions from cars, probably realising that the voluntary commitments will fail to deliver. However, the commission stated that new regulation would be closely based on the voluntary agreements.

[edit] References

"Lack of Disclosure from European Automakers Threatens Investors" (April 2005), World Resources Institute (WRI)

The ACEA Agreement itself COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION of 5 February 1999 on the reduction of CO2 emissions from passenger cars (notified under document number C(1999) 107), (1999/125/EC)

"How Clean is Your Car Brand?" The car industry's commitment to the EU to reduce CO2 emissions: a brand-by-brand progress report. European Federation for Transport and Environment, October 2006 [4]