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Toyota Leads Carmakers on Way to EU Carbon Goals, Study Shows
2010-11-03 23:00:01.1 GMT
By Ewa Krukowska
Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. led carmakers in
cutting carbon-dioxide discharges in Europe last year and is
closest to achieving its target under European Union
legislation, an environmental transport group said.
As part of efforts to fight climate change, the 27-nation
EU endorsed legislation in 2008 to reduce CO2 from new cars sold
in Europe in 2015 by one-fifth on average to 130 grams a
kilometer through varying targets for individual manufacturers.
The curbs will be phased in between 2012 and 2015.
Toyota cut CO2 discharges by 10 percent last year and is
now "best placed" to comply with the 2015 target, according to
the report published today by Brussels-based Transport &
Environment. This compares with a record 5.1 percent drop in the
car industry's sales-weighted average emissions of carbon
dioxide per kilometer.
"Carmakers in Europe are heading for very significant
overcompliance with the CO2 regulation and are hence likely to
hit the target for 2015 years in advance," Transport &
Environment said in an e-mailed statement. "The study's
findings suggest that carmakers previously exaggerated the time
needed to comply with car CO2 limits."
Toyota, Suzuki, Daimler, Mazda and Ford appear to achieve
the most progress in reducing emissions through better
technologies rather than sales of small cars amid the financial
crisis, according to the study.
Toyota's average emissions dropped to 132 grams a kilometer
last year from 147 grams in 2008. This is the second-lowest
level after Fiat, whose average CO2 discharges dropped 5.3
percent to 131 grams, the report showed.
A draft law from October last year would cut average CO2
from new vans by 14 percent to 175 grams a kilometer as of 2016
after a phase-in that begins two years earlier. Those targets
should be tightened, according to the report.
Wider European curbs on the transport industry's greenhouse
gases including CO2, the main such pollutant, would bolster an
EU goal to cut such emissions by at least 20 percent in 2020
from 1990 levels. The EU is considering deepening that target to
30 percent should other countries follow suit.
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--With assistance from Jonathan Stearns in Brussels. Editors:
Alex Devine, John Buckley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ewa Krukowska in Brussels at +32-2-237-4331 or
ekrukowska@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net ;
