The European Parliament has this week voted in favour of a proposal that would see a ban on the sale of new petrol- and diesel-powered cars across the EU bloc by 2035 at the latest.
Though the ban has not yet been made law, the vote confirms the European Parliament's position when it comes to negotiating the matter with the various member states. The proposal must also still be put to the European Council for debate before it is passed into law.
This week's would support a major part of the EU's plans to reduce its carbon output by 55 per cent (compared to 1990 levels) by 2030 - or at least be a big step in the right direction for the effort. As part of the vote to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035, lawmakers also voted to compel carmakers to reduce their overall fleet emissions by 15 per cent by 2025 and 55 per cent by 2030 before finally hitting the 100 per cent target by 2035.
Opposition
The law did face some opposition along the way with attempts from across various parts of the political spectrum to water the bill down to a 90 per cent rather than full cut by 2035. Other proposals that would push the ban forward to 2030 or increase the scale of emissions cuts for carmakers throughout the next decade were rejected.
German MEP, Peter Liese, the parliament's lead negotiator on carbon market reform and whose centre-right EPP parliamentary group (of which Fine Gael forms a part) opposes the 100 per cent ban on ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) sales, gave some indication as to his party's rationale behind its disquiet surrounding the bill when speaking to journalists on Wednesday.
"We don't think that politicians should decide if the electric vehicles or synthetic fuels are the best choice," he said. "I personally believe that most consumers will buy an electrical car if we give them the necessary infrastructure and that's what we need to do."
Synthetic fuels are a theoretically low-carbon alternative to petrol and diesel that can potentially be made entirely from renewable resources and used in mostly unmodified internal combustion engines. Though not representing an entirely carbon-free solution, they can, in some cases, offer an 85 per cent reduction in emissions compared to using petrol. With Wednesday's vote, however, the EU essentially shut the door on a future where synthetic fuels play a major part in the transport sector, something that was welcomed by Alex Keynes, Clean Vehicles Manager at the Brussels-based environmental lobby group, Transport and Environment (T&E).
No "fake green solutions"
"Environment ministers should double down on 2035 and leave no room for diversions into fake green solutions like e-fuels. Allowing synthetic fuels in cars would be an expensive and wasteful diversion from the mammoth task of cleaning up transport. Battery electric vehicles are ready today and are a cleaner, cheaper, more efficient way to decarbonise."
According to the group, the use of synthetic e-fuels would reduce the CO2 emissions of a car bought in 2030 by just 5 per cent over its lifetime cycle compared to petrol as well as pumping toxic and harmful gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the air, not to mention being more expensive than running a fully-electric vehicle.
"The deadline," said Keynes, "means the last fossil fuel cars will be sold by 2035, giving us a fighting chance of averting runaway climate change. Phasing out combustion engines is also a historic opportunity to help end our oil dependence and make us safer from despots. And it gives the certainty the car industry needs to ramp up production of electric vehicles, which will drive down prices for drivers."