The three organisations have written a letter to the European Parliament’s recently appointed rapporteur for CO2 legislation, Holger Krahmer, calling for ‘more ambitious CO2 standards for vans’, which they say are ‘fundamental’ to Europe achieving its climate objectives.

Under the present EU van fuel efficiency law, new vans sold in Europe in 2020 are subject to a fleet-average target of 147g/km.

However the three associations point out that the current regulation was adopted in 2010 on the basis of information that suggested that average CO2 emissions were around 200g/km per van and that reducing those emissions would be highly expensive (ca. €2000-€3000/van).

They add that a recent study by TNOi for the European Commission demonstrates that the potential costs for achieving this target would be around €500 – 4 to 6 times lower than originally expected. It has also emerged from the study that the average emissions of vans were significantly overestimated when this regulation was adopted.

The letter said: ‘On the basis of the latest scientific evidence, and given the potential benefits for both the economy and the environment, we therefore call on the European Parliament to set a more ambitious 2020 target of 118 g/km or 4,5 l/100km.

‘A stricter target of 118g/km would save around €825/year in fuel costs for every van and additional acquisition costs would pay back rapidly even at low future oil prices.’

Brussels-based NGO T&E has previously spoken out on the subject, with a call in November last year for the EU to strengthen the vans target to at least 118g/km, based on five reasons:

• Fuel efficient vans reduce costs for business users improving the competitiveness of European companies;


• The evidence on which the original decision was based was flawed;


• Tighter targets extend the market for low carbon technologies reducing costs, promoting innovation, creating jobs and developing export opportunities;


• Parity between targets for cars and vans would avoid potential “leakage” inadvertently weakening the cars target;


• Stop seven years of largely ineffective legislation, and offset increased emissions from a rapidly expanding vans market.

However, when the van and car CO2 targets were adopted last year, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) highlighted that these are the toughest targets in the world – far more stringent than those in the US, China or Japan – and said that this will increase manufacturing costs in Europe, ‘creating a competitive disadvantage for the region and further slowing the renewal of the fleet’.