The agreement, which follows the deal on emissions for cars, also recognises that the EU needs stricter fuel economy and CO2 emissions standards for vans in 2025 together with the Parliament’s proposed range of 105-120g/km for the average new van sold in 2025.

The deal struck, which is subject to ratification by Member States, will also update procedures for measuring van fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions to be consistent with similar legislation recently approved for cars and will help reduce the wide gap between the official fuel economy figures and real-life economy.

The final deal also scrapped speed limiters for vans, which would reduce average van fuel consumption and emissions by at least 6% according to T&E and means that vans are the only commercial vehicle on the road today not to have such a measure.

However the agreement has been criticised by environmental NGO T&E for being much more lenient on vans than cars, which will be required to meet a fleet average limit of 95g/km. T&E adds that with van emissions averaging 180.3g/km in 2012, van manufacturers will only have to make modest fuel efficiency gains at the rate of 4g/km per year to achieve the 2020 limit.

William Todts of T&E said: ‘It is disappointing that decision-makers have agreed on a vans target that is business as usual until 2020, allowing van-makers to achieve the limit at a snail’s pace. Van owners, who have explicitly asked Europe to help them save fuel and emissions, will now miss out on important fuel-efficiency gains in these tough economic times. It seems that the interests of some van-makers trump the interests of millions of responsible van owners and businesses.’

‘It’s encouraging that the EU recognises the need to significantly improve van fuel efficiency in 2025 and update the emissions test to close the gap between official and real-world fuel economy figures. We need long-term targets with accurate test to stimulate innovation and are looking forward to policy-makers coming up with an ambitious 2025 proposal by 2015,’ Mr Todts concluded.