UK Climate Change Programme 2006 - JNCC - Defra

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Transport
that they can make informed decisions. And the
Energy Review will also be considering the medium
to long-term potential of technologies to reduce
carbon dioxide emissions in the transport sector.
25. We have seen steady progress in improving the
average fuel efficiency of new cars sold in the
UK. New cars sold in the UK in 2004 were on
average some 10 per cent more fuel-efficient
than in 1997. The rate of progress has slowed in
recent years, however, and new cars sold in 2005
were only 0.9 per cent more fuel efficient on
average than new cars sold in 2004. There is also
an increasing split between the company car
market, where average emissions of new vehicles
continue to fall, and that for private cars, where
progress has stagnated.
26. The Government will also continue to
support the development, introduction and
take-up of new vehicle technologies to help
cut carbon dioxide emissions. The 2002
Powering Future Vehicles Strategy, which will be
reviewed during 2006, sets out the main policies
and targets in this area and a grant programme
supports research and development into low
carbon vehicle technologies 5 . The Government
will continue to fund the Low Carbon Vehicle
Partnership (LowCVP), a stakeholder
organisation set up in 2003 to help the shift
towards low carbon vehicles and fuels.
The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership is an
action and advisory group, established in
January 2003 to take the lead in accelerating
the shift to clean low carbon vehicles and fuels
in the UK.
LowCVP is a partnership of organisations from
the automotive and fuel industries,
Government, academia, environmental NGOs
and other stakeholders who are working
together on shared goals to make the shift
happen.
27. The Government is committed to the Voluntary
Agreements on new car fuel efficiency
between the European Commission and the
automotive industry, which aim to improve the
average fuel efficiency of new cars sold in the EU
by 25 per cent by 2008-9 against a 1995
baseline. These have already led to improvements
in average new car fuel efficiency across the EU,
but, as indicated in the figure below, indications
are that the target is unlikely to be reached in
full. The target has been set at EU level, and, as
such, not all countries need to individually meet
the target in order for it to be reached on
average. However, by 2003 average new car
carbon dioxide emissions had been reduced by
only 12 per cent across the EU. The Government
is pressing for new targets beyond 140g/km after
2008 to be finalised as soon as possible. This
might deliver carbon savings of 0.1 MtC in 2010,
potentially increasing to 0.7MtC by 2015,
depending on the form it took.
European Community Strategy to reduce CO 2
emissions from cars
The voluntary agreements on new car fuel
efficiency represent one of the three pillars of
the European Community’s Strategy to reduce
CO 2
emissions from cars, launched in 1995. The
aim of the strategy is to reach – by 2010 at the
latest – an average CO 2
emission figure of 120
g/km from new passenger cars sold in the
European Union. The objective of the voluntary
agreements is to reduce average new car CO 2
emissions to 140g/km by 2008-9, mainly
through technological developments. The other
two pillars of the Strategy are to improve
consumer information on the fuel-economy
of cars and market-based measures to
influence motorists’ choice towards more
fuel-efficient cars.
More information on the strategy can be found
at http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/
co2/co2_home.htm The strategy is currently
being reviewed as part of the wider review of
the European Climate Change Programme.
5 Details of the grant programme are at www.est.org.uk/fleet/funding/lowcarbonresearch/.