European Policy

The European Union has set mandatory carbon dioxide (CO₂) targets for both cars and light commercial vehicles. The specific target for an automaker depends on the average weight of the automaker’s vehicles registered in a given year; lower average vehicle weight results in stricter CO₂ targets for a given automaker. Ford cars registered in the EU have relatively low average weight compared to other automakers, which results in stricter targets for Ford compared to the overall industry target of 130 g/km during the 2012 to 2015 period. This target is set to decrease to 95 g/km in the 2020 to 2021 timeframe.

The EU has also established significant regulations about other items related to climate change, such as fuels (including bio-blending), tires and gear-shift indicators, as well as requirements related to fuel economy indicators and more efficient, low-CO₂ mobile air conditioning systems. The EU Commission, Council and Parliament also approved a target for commercial light-duty vehicles to be at an industry average of 175 g/km (with phase-in from 2014 to 2017) and 147 g/km in 2020. In fact, automobiles are one of the most regulated products in the EU, with requirements also covering non-CO₂ emissions, drive-by noise, recycling, substances, electromagnetic requirements, safety, technical aspects and more. Ford is complying and will continue to comply with all these various targets and prohibitions with appropriate product offerings.

In general, Ford is requesting that regulations and policies be well coordinated and not contradictory to each other, and that they also be technology-neutral, be proportional, avoid double regulation, offer sufficient lead time to adjust development and production cycles, and follow an integrated approach in which all stakeholders (industry, infrastructure, consumers and governments) contribute to the solution. Also, any CO₂ regulations should be in line with meeting the global CO₂ target of 450 ppm.

In several EU member states, CO₂ taxation is in place to encourage the early introduction of low-CO₂ vehicles. The major tax break points are often around 50 g/km, 95 to 100 g/km, and 120 g/km, with very high taxation in some countries above these levels. Unfortunately, these tax break points are not harmonized among the European countries.

The industry will continue to invest heavily in research and development, and new product programs in order to reach short-term CO₂ targets. The long-term target will require technological breakthroughs, new refueling infrastructure and a swift renewal of the car fleet on Europe’s roads.