CAFE Mit Sahne: EU Greenhouse Targets, Now With New Loopholes
European carmakers, faced with greenhouse gas emission targets much stricter than America’s CAFE rules, can breathe slightly easier. According to Reuters, European politicians backed a compromise deal that keeps stringent targets in place, but that also introduces a loophole: So-called supercredits, gained by making very low emission vehicles, such as electric cars, which nobody actually needs to buy. Quota cars, here we come.
The proposal still needs to be voted on by the full European Parliament and endorsed by member states. The compromise keeps a 2020 emissions limit of 95 grams per kilometer as an average for new EU cars. It even introduces a new 2025 goal in a range of 68-78 g/km. However, it allows manufacturers to use supercredits to partly offset the requirements.
While the U.S. sets mileage targets and the EU sets targets for CO2 output, the two amount largely to the same: Burn less fuel, create less CO2. The standards set by the Obama administration equate to 93 grams of CO2 per kilometer by 2025 for ordinary cars, excluding sport utility vehicles, the International Council on Clean Transportation says.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Sucks for them. We still get the bigger engines here in the US on global cars. I'm surprised the eu is going this far. Their car traffic is much less than here in the US. Their you have a choice to have a car or not. Not so much here.
Now that Global Warning is over, and we are entering into the era of Global Cooling, shouldn't we try to burn as much fuel as possible to maintain the Earth's best temperatures? Even if we run out of petroleum fuels in 100 years (barring CNG), we could always keep war with butanol and biodiesel, right? This is April 25th, and there is still snow on the ground in my backyard! What does that tell ya'? -----------------
Did industrialization kill the dinosaurs?
Of course in the real world, non of this matters, since no politician has ever kept one single promise more than half an hour. 2020, 2025?? Fat chance any of those yahoos can even count that high. All it amounts to, is progtard hipster whore A trying to outdo colleague B, by claiming his jeans are even skinnier than B's. In the process inadvertently (or not) driving auto makers and other lobbyists to fork more money into campaigns for or against the silliness.