The plenary of the European Parliament on Tuesday gave its approval to the agreement between institutions reached last autumn so that from 2035 all new cars and vans marketed in the European Union will be «zero emissions», which in practice will mean a ban on the marketing of combustion vehicles, including petrol, diesel and hybrids.

The new regulation is part of the climate package that the European Union wants to promote this legislature to reduce polluting emissions in the bloc by at least 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990) and is the first concrete measure of the battery of initiatives that went ahead.

Among the key elements of the reform is the commissioning of a new methodology to collect and evaluate data on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the light-duty vehicle fleet over the entire life cycle of vehicles sold in the single market.

The European Commission is to present this methodology by 2025 at the latest, including with legislative reforms if necessary for its development.

Brussels is also mandated with this new legislation to produce a bi-annual report from 2025 onwards to assess whether progress towards the binding zero emissions target is being made at the right pace across the EU as a whole; an analysis that should also assess the impact of the reform on consumers and employment as well as the evolution of the second-hand car market.

In monitoring the emissions of new vehicles, EU experts will monitor the gap between emission limit values and actual fuel and energy consumption data in order to adjust the average specific CO2 emissions of manufacturers from 2030 onwards.

Disparity between groups

«If we want to reduce CO2 emissions, have affordable, sustainable and clean mobility and transform our industry, we have to vote in favour of this regulation,» said PSOE MEP César Luena, Vice-Chair of the Environment Committee, in a statement in which the Socialists reproached the European People’s Party (EPP) for voting against the agreement.

In the eyes of the EPP, according to its spokesman in the negotiations, Jens Gieseke, the ban on combustion engines will mean «more expensive» new cars, the loss of «thousands of jobs» and will lead to the «decline» of the European industry.

«Europe is driving its car industry into a dead end,» she said.

The European Citizens’ Party MEP Susana Solís expressed support for the transition to the electric car, but warned of the need for accompanying measures to transform the industry, especially in regions such as «Castilla y León, Navarra, Aragón and Galicia», where «thousands of families» depend on the sector, she said.

The vice-president of the European Greens and MEP for En Comú Podem, Ernest Urtasun, welcomed the European Union’s leadership in electromobility, in favour of «cleaner transport, climate neutrality and greater competitiveness».

Urtasun also argued that the new regulation guarantees «planning security for the change to e-mobility, strengthens the EU as an automotive location and protects the health of citizens», while calling for the production of batteries and charging infrastructure to be boosted now.