European Commissioners push for greater oversight of carmakers’ compliance with EU emission rules

The European Commission wants to exert stricter control over how car manufacturers determine the emissions of their cars, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. EU Commissioners suspect that carmakers have found a loophole in the Commission’s targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions, according to the article. Because CO₂ targets for next decade will be determined based on a percentage reduction from a 2021 starting point, the Commissioners worry that auto manufacturers will report higher initial emissions values so as to make the future targets less ambitious and consequently less costly to achieve, the article says. The Commissioners propose that independent measurements of emission levels take place.

For background, read the dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers and the article German environment ministry pushes for tougher EU car emission rules.