Brussels - The European Union's executive is to propose new laws capping greenhouse gas emissions from light commercial vehicles, or vans, despite fierce lobbying from manufacturers, officials in Brussels said Friday. Environmental groups say that the laws will be vital to rein in EU states' greenhouse gas emissions. But countries which are home to major van makers, such as France, Germany and Italy, say that binding targets would add an unfair burden to manufacturers' business models.
The European Commission hopes to finalize the proposal at the very last working session of its five-year mandate on Wednesday, commission officials said. They would then have to be approved by member states and the European Parliament.
The laws are expected to follow the pattern of legislation capping passenger car emissions, which was approved at the end of 2008. That legislation set varying emissions limits for cars based on their weight, with a sliding scale of fines for manufacturers whose vehicles missed the targets.
The commission had been tipped to make similar proposals on vans in September, but Brussels insiders said that a fierce row had broken out between its environmental and industrial departments over how severe the targets and fines should be.
Early drafts suggested that the commission wanted van makers to have an overall target of 175 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometre driven by 2012, with fines kicking in at 120 euros (180 dollars) per van sold and per gram over the limit.
That would represent an emissions reduction of 14 per cent, with higher targets in subsequent years.
But the proposal provoked the wrath of France, Germany and Italy, home to major manufacturers such as Fiat, Mercedes and Renault.
The three countries argued in a joint letter to the commission that carmakers cannot afford to bring in new standards when they are already reeling from the impact of the world financial downturn.
EU van sales fell by 36.5 per cent in the first eight months of this year, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association. Van sales make up some 10 per cent of EU auto sales.
Commission officials in mid-October said that there was a strong chance that the proposal would remain stalled until a new commission enters into force, probably in the new year.
But the body has now agreed to set out a compromise proposal at the current commission's last working session. Commission bureaucrats are expected to work through the weekend to draft it.
When the original car laws were approved, environmental groups derided them as weak. However, a study released in September showed that the legislation had already forced the most polluting manufacturers to curb their emissions.
