Cars are responsible for around 12% of total EU emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas.
Regulation (EC) 443/2009, which is summarised on this page, set mandatory emission reduction targets for new cars. The first target fully applied from 2015 onward and a new target will be phased in in 2020 and fully apply from 2021 onward.
On 17 April 2019, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation (EU) 2019/631 which introduces CO2 emission performance standards for new passenger cars and new vans for 2025 and 2030.
The new Regulation started applying on 1 January 2020 and has replaced and repealed Regulation (EC) 443/2009.
Following a phase in from 2012 onward, a target of 130 grams of CO2 per kilometre applied for the EU fleet-wide average emission of new passenger cars between 2015 and 2019.
Emissions of 130 g CO2/km correspond to a fuel consumption of around 5.6 litres per 100 km (l/100 km) of petrol or 4.9 l/100 km of diesel.
This EU fleet-wide target was already reached in 2013, two years ahead of schedule.
The average emissions of new cars registered in 2019 in the EU28, Iceland and Norway were 122.4 g CO2/km (provisional EEA data).
From 2021, phased in from 2020, the EU fleet-wide average emission target for new cars will be 95 g CO2/km.
This emission level corresponds to a fuel consumption of around 4.1 l/100 km of petrol or 3.6 l/100 km of diesel.
The binding emission targets for manufacturers are set according to the average mass of their vehicles, using a limit value curve. This means that manufacturers of heavier cars are allowed higher emissions than manufacturers of lighter cars. The curve is set in such a way that the targets for the EU fleet-wide average emissions are achieved.
In 2020, the emission targets will apply for each manufacturer’s 95% least emitting new cars. From 2021 onward, the average emissions of all newly registered cars of a manufacturer will have to be below the target.
The target of 130 g/km was phased in between 2012 and 2015.
A phase-in period will also apply to the target of 95 g/km. In 2020, the emission targets will apply for each manufacturer’s 95% least emitting new cars. From 2021 on, the average emissions of all newly registered cars of a manufacturer will have to be below the target.
If the average CO2 emissions of a manufacturer's fleet exceed its target in a given year, the manufacturer has to pay an excess emissions premium for each car registered.
Until 2018, this premium amounted to
Since 2019, the penalty is €95 for each g/km of target exceedance.
To encourage eco-innovation, manufacturers can be granted emission credits for vehicles equipped with innovative technologies for which it is not possible to demonstrate the CO2-reducing effects during the test procedure used for vehicle type approval.
Such emission savings have to be demonstrated based on independently verified data. The maximum emission credits for these eco-innovations per manufacturer are 7 g/km per year.
Manufacturers are given additional incentives to put on the market zero- and low-emission cars emitting less than 50 g/km through a “super-credits” system. This already applied between 2012 and 2015 and will apply again for the period 2020-2022.
For the purpose of calculating a manufacturer’s average specific emissions, such cars will then be counted as:
A cap on the super-credits is set at 7.5 g/km per manufacturer over the three years.
Manufacturers can group together and act jointly to meet their emissions target. In forming such a pool, manufacturers must respect the rules of competition law.
Manufacturers responsible for fewer than 300 000 new passenger cars registered in the EU in a given year may benefit from exemptions or derogations.
More specifically:
The Commission has set out rules for monitoring the CO2 emissions of new cars. Information on the monitoring results can be found under the Documentation tab.