Under the changes, which have already been informally agreed, CO2 emissions from new vans would be capped at 147g/km by 2020 from the current level of 147g/km, and a new testing protocol is to be introduced to provide more reliable methods.

‘We achieved a result after some difficult negotiations. I'm glad that we haven't yielded to any kind of pressure to change that target. As the lifespan of light commercial vehicles is longer than that of passenger cars, it is appropriate for us to stick to the target that we set ourselves,’ said Holger Krahmer (ALDE, DE), whose report was approved by 552 votes in favour, 110 against and 12 abstentions.

The 147g/km by 2020 target is for maximum average emissions across the manufacturer’s EU-registered fleet of can up to 2.610 tonnes unladen and 3.5 tonnes laden. It will apply to manufacturers producing more than 1,000 vehicles per year.

The European Parliament also announced that the current system of “super credits”, which gives extra weighting to vehicles emitting less than 50g/km of CO2, will not be renewed and will expire in 2018.

The changes also call for more trustworthy testing methods, with the loopholes in the current environmental performance test protocol having been highlighted, which has led manufacturers to produce consumption and emission figures that are almost impossible to achieve under normal daily driving conditions.

MEPs sought to have the current protocol replaced as soon as possible by the new World Light Duty Test Procedure (WLTP), defined by the UN. In negotiations, they won an undertaking from the European Commission to bring the WLTP into effect at the earliest opportunity.