by Colman
Tue Feb 6th, 2007 at 05:01:07 AM EST
According to the FT
Europe’s car industry will have to cut its carbon dioxide emissions to 130g/km by 2012, the European Commission is expected to agree on Wednesday.
This is less than the cuts that the environment commissioner, and soon to be Japanese car user, Stavros Dimas, wanted. They expect to achieve a further 10g/km cut through miracles. I mean use of biofuels and other innovations, including ones that tell the driver to change gear or inflate their tires.
But this is the good bit:
Commission officials say the scheme will seek to strike a balance between the interests of manufacturers of big and small cars.
At what fucking point, exactly, did this scheme become about the interests of car manufactuers? The point is to reduce CO2 output, not balance the interests of various marketing department spewing out the latest in teutonic penis extensions and substitutes.
The industry had been backed last week by Angela Merkel, German chancellor, who warned Brussels against setting emissions targets that hit the motor industry, particularly companies such as DaimlerChrysler and BMW which produce larger models with higher emissions.
Aiiiieeeeeeee. The whole damn point is that conspicious consumption by car is causing a huge and pointless amount of our CO2 output. Can we please compete for status on some other basis?
The car industry, which says that even a 130g limit would be very difficult to meet, industry looks almost certain to fail to fulfil its 1999 voluntary agreement to cut emissions to 140g/km by 2008.
The current Fiat Punto, which is bigger than the version I drive, gets 123g/km. The problem is precisely big cars and conspicious consumption.
