The European Parliament has approved a regulation that would ban the sale of carbon-emitting cars and vans in the bloc from 2035. This essentially means the prohibition of new cars with internal combustion engines. The regulation still needs to be approved by the European Union Council.
From 2035, only vehicles that do not emit carbon will be sold in the European Union. The decision was approved on Tuesday by the European Parliament as part of the EU's Target 55 plan. The regulation text also needs to be approved by the European Union Council, which includes government ministers from member states.
By 2030, the emissions reduction target for new cars will be 55% and for vans will be 50% compared to the 2021 emission levels.
According to the decision by the European Parliament, the European Commission will be tasked with revising the methodology for calculating vehicle carbon emissions. By 2025, the carbon emissions of cars and vans will be calculated over the entire lifecycle of the vehicle.
The European Commission has also been given the task of monitoring whether and how actual carbon emissions and fuel consumption data differ from the declared data, until December 2026.
Small-volume car manufacturers (producing 1,000 to 10,000 cars or 1,000 to 22,000 vans per year) may be exempt from the ban until 2035. For manufacturers that register less than 1,000 new vehicles annually, the exemption will continue even after 2035. For example, Italian luxury carmaker Ferrari produced over 13,000 cars in 2022, while Audi produced approximately 1.6 million cars in the same year.
The regulation was approved by 340 Members of the European Parliament, with 279 against and 21 abstentions. This move is a significant step towards achieving the EU's goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, and it is expected to accelerate the transition to electric and other low-carbon vehicles in the region.