Carbon pollution from new cars increased again last year, by 1.3% on average, according to the EU’s environmental watchdog, the EEA.
Green group Transport & Environment said the repeated rise in car CO2 is due to manufacturers continuing to sell highly-polluting SUVs until the last possible moment before pushing cleaner models to comply with the 2020/21 climate target.
The provisional data shows that new cars sold in 2019 emitted 122.4 grams of CO2 per km – up 1.6g/km on the previous year’s average. Currently carmakers in the EU have to meet five-year emissions targets, with the last standard enforced back in 2015.
This allows them to delay the roll-out of cleaner vehicles until the last minute. T&E said that during the planned review of CO2 targets in 2021, the EU should move to annual or bi-annual deadlines.