To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate the additional carbon dioxide emissions which would result from implementation of the European Parliament’s proposal to limit emissions from new cars to 120g of carbon dioxide for every kilometre travelled by 2012 if it were to be phased in over three years; and whether eco-innovations are to be included in calculations of progress towards achieving the target limit. (242897)

It should be noted that new car carbon dioxide emissions will need to be 130 g/km on average (rather than it being a limit), with the further 10 g/km being delivered from a range of other measures. The phased-in targets (as agreed on 1 December between the European Commission, the European Parliament lead negotiators and the French presidency) still represent a real challenge for industry and will require a significant increase in the rate of fuel efficiency improvements over and above those already seen under the carbon dioxide voluntary agreements. Our analysis shows that there is unlikely to be any difference in overall carbon dioxide savings between this system and the original Commission’s proposal which had lower penalties for non-compliance in earlier years.

Eco-innovations, if properly implemented, will similarly not lead to a change in the overall carbon dioxide emissions from the regulation. Any reduction in g/km carbon dioxide savings measured by the test cycle will need to be matched by additional g/km carbon dioxide savings from the eco-innovations.