CO2 and cars

EU limits for CO2 emissions of passenger cars

Within the DG ENV framework contract on vehicle emissions, the consortium of TNO, AEA, Ökopol, CE, IHS Global Insight, Ricardo and TML answered a first service request of the European Commission on CO2 emissions of passenger cars.

The aim of this project was to advise the commission on CO2 limit values and how they can be achieved.
In a first phase, we reviewed technological options to provide insight in state-of-the-art vehicle emission reduction options. This included setting up abatement cost curves.
In the second phase, we reviewed utility parameters for vehicles, which have the potential to improve the match between vehicle classification/utility and its CO2 emissions. Footprint and transport capacity were the main candidates.
We went from theoretic values to practice in task 3, where we evaluated different modalities to reach a given emission target (95g/km by 2020).
In task 4 we introduced new technology on consumer behaviour. This was the main contribution of TML. In a first subtask, we looked at the possibility to calculate the amount of driven kilometers/vehicle type into emission goals, and the impact of this on the costs. In the second subtask, we studied the rebound effects of a more severe emission regulation (a lower fuel use results in lower driving costs, what could encourage people to drive more - on the other hand the cost price to buy a car could increase, so that the amount of sold cars could decrease).

In a next request, the emission regulation for lorries and small vans (class N1) is investigated. TML evaluates the shift to other vehicle types.

report

The final report is available here or on the website of the European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/transport/vehicles/cars/docs/study_car_2011_en.pdf

period

2010-2011

funded by

European Commission, DG Environment

partners

TNO (NL), Ricardo (UK), IHS Global Insight (UK), Ökopol (DE), CE DELFT (NL) and AEA (UK)

contact

Tim Breemersch

+32 16 74.51.23