Despite efforts, passenger cars in the European Union emit the same amount of polluting carbon dioxide as 12 years ago, according to an audit from the EU’s agency European Court of Auditors (ECA), putting a serious dent to the EU’s aim of reaching zero-emissions from new passenger cars by 2035.
The results of the audit were presented on Wednesday by Pietro Russo, who led the audit for the agency.
“A true and tangible reduction in cars’ CO2 emissions will not occur as long as the combustion engine prevails,” he said at the presentation, also understanding that “electrifying the EU’s car fleet is a major undertaking.”
The report found out that real emissions from conventional cars, both diesel and petrol, didn’t drop in the past 12 years and still accounts for around three-quarters of new vehicle registrations. The audit recognised though the growth of electric vehicles, as they jumped from one in every 100 new car registrations in 2018 to one in seven in 2022. The growing electric cars pushed the reduction of CO2 emissions on the road in the past years.
However, carbon dioxide from the transport sector keeps growing like it did in the past 30 years. Passengers’ cars were responsible for more than half of the EU’s 23% total greenhouse gas emissions that comes from the transport sector.
In a statement, ECA said that “emissions have remained constant for diesel cars, while they have marginally decreased (-4.6 %) for petrol cars.”
