DfT consults on new car emission rules

Emissions

The DfT is consulting on the carbon dioxide performance standards for new cars and vans from January 2021, when the transition period for leaving the EU ends.

After 31 December, subject to the terms of the future trade agreement between the UK and the EU, new vehicle registrations in the UK will cease to fall under the scope of the EU regulations. 

The DfT is laying a Statutory Instrument to correct for ‘deficiencies/inoperabilities’ within a revised text of the regulation. This includes, for example, formulae that set specific CO2 targets in order to account for UK-only regulations and derogation thresholds to account for the size of the UK market rather than the EU. But the DfT says the UK regulation will be at least as ambitious as the EU one. 

The EU regulations currently require average CO2 emissions of all new cars registered in the EU to be no more than 95 grammes per km by 2021. For light commercial vehicles, the target is 147 grammes per km by 2020. 

In 2025, both cars and vans must meet an EU-wide fleet average CO2 emissions reduction of 15 per cent below the 2021 baseline, following the conversion to Worldwide harmonised Light vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP). For 2030, the target is a 37.5 per cent reduction against the 2021 baseline for cars and a 31 per cent reduction against the 2021 baseline for vans. 

The UK plans to retain these targets. 

The EU regulations also introduce zero and low emission benchmarks of 15 per cent of a manufacturer’s fleet for both cars and vans from 1 January 2025, and 35 per cent of the fleet of new cars and 30 per cent of new vans from 1 January 2030. 

EU level targets are broken down into specific targets for individual manufacturers but multiple manufacturers can pool their registrations with the pool receiving one CO2 target based on the average weight of all of the applicable vehicles. 

Consultation ends 21 August.