The European Parliament has approved a law that will forbid the sale of new gas and diesel cars in the EU beginning in 2035 in an attempt to speed up the switch to electric vehicles (EVs).
The new legislation puts new passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles on a road to zero CO2 emissions by 2035. (an EU fleet-wide target to reduce CO2 emissions produced by new cars and vans by 100 per cent compared to 2021).
A methodology to evaluate and report statistics on CO2 emissions over the course of a car or van’s whole lifecycle that is sold on the EU market will be presented by the Commission by 2025.
“This regulation encourages the production of zero- and low-emission vehicles. It contains an ambitious revision of the targets for 2030 and a zero-emission target for 2035, which is crucial to reach climate neutrality by 2050,” said Jan Huitema, a member of the European Parliament.
“Purchasing and driving zero-emission cars will become cheaper for consumers and a second-hand market will emerge more quickly. It makes sustainable driving accessible to everyone,” Huitema added.
The Commission said that manufacturers who produce between 1,000 and 10,000 new cars or between 1,000 and 22,000 new vans in a calendar year may be given a derogation until the end of 2035 (those registering less than 1 000 new vehicles per year continue to be exempt).
Starting at the end of 2025, the Commission will release a report every two years to assess the development of zero-emission road transport.
The bill was first adopted by negotiators from EU nations, the European Parliament and the European Commission in October last year.
Several automakers, like Volkswagen, have already said that they would solely build EVs in Europe by 2033.
