European Union countries reach deal on 2035 fossil fuel car ban

European Union countries clinched deals on proposed laws to combat climate change on Wednesday, backing a 2035 phase-out of new fossil fuel car sales and a multibillion-euro fund to shield lower-income citizens from CO2 costs.

After 16 hours of negotiations the environment ministers of 27 EU member states came to an agreement on joint positions on five laws. This is part of a wider package of measures that will help to reduce global warming emissions over the next decade.

“The climate crisis and its implications are clear, and so policy must be unavoidable,” EU climate policy chief FransTimmermans saidHe also said that Russia’s invasion in Ukraine by its top gas supplier Russia was encouraging countries to abandon fossil fuels sooner.

The core elements of the package, which was first proposed by the European Commission last summer, were supported by the Environment Ministers. This included a law that requires new cars sold in Europe after 2035 to emit no carbon dioxide. It would be impossible to sell internal combustion engine cars.

It is likely that the proposal will be made EU law by the agreement. The ministers’ agreements will determine their position in the upcoming negotiations with EU Parliament on final laws. The 2035 car goal has been supported by the Parliament.

The current hybrid models are not sufficiently advanced

Italy, Slovakia, as well as other states, wanted the phase out to be delayed to 2040. Eventually, countries agreed to a compromise that maintained the 2035 deadline.

According to a copy of the deal agreed by ministers and seen by Reuters, countries want Brussels to assess the development of plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2026, and whether they could contribute to the goal.

Timmermans saidThe Commission said it would be open-minded, but hybrids did not achieve sufficient emissions reductions today.

The climate proposals aim to ensure the EU, which is the world’s third-biggest greenhouse gas emitter, reaches its 2030 target of reducing net emissions by 55 per cent from 1990 levels.

This will require governments and industries invest heavily in cleaner manufacturing, renewable energies, and electric vehicles.

Ministers supported a new EU carbon market that would impose CO2 prices on polluting fuels in transport and buildings. saidIt will launch in 2027, which is one year later than originally planned.

After fraught negotiations, they agreed to form a 59-billion-euro EU fund to shield low-income citizens from the policy’s costs over 2027–2032.

Lithuania was the only country to object to the final agreements. It had unsuccessfully sought a larger fund along with Latvia, Poland, and others concerned that the new CO2 market would increase citizens’ energy bills.

Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands — wealthier countries which would pay more into the fund than they would get back — had wanted it to be smaller.

Ministers also supported reforms to the EU’s current carbon market which requires industry and power plants pay for polluting.

Countries accepted core elements of the Commission’s proposal to reinforce the market to cut emissions 61 per cent by 2030, and extend it to cover shipping. They also agreed to rules that would make it easier for the EU intervene in case of an increase in CO2 prices.