Spain is below the average for the ‘Old Continent’, with 121.3 grams per kilometer, despite rising 2.7% last year
MADRID, Aug 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Average emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from new passenger cars registered in the European Union (EU) rose by 1.8% in 2019, reaching 123 grams per kilometer, well above the 95 grams established by the new European emission regulations for this year.
This is clear from the ‘Pocket Guide’ prepared by the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA), collected by Europa Press, which indicates that in the last three years the average emissions of European cars have rebounded, despite the path decline started during the last decade. The ‘todocaminización’ of the market and the ‘criminalization’ of diesel in favor of gasoline could be some of the causes that explain this increase.
However, there are large discrepancies between the gas levels of passenger cars in the different EU Member States. Thus, the Netherlands is the European region with the lowest average emissions, with 98.4 grams of CO2 per kilometer traveled, after decreasing by 6.8% last year.
Malta and Portugal follow the list of ‘cleanest’ countries, as the measured carbon dioxide emissions of their new cars are 105.3 and 109.4 grams, respectively, after last year the island country dropped by Its emissions 2.2%, while Portugal increased them by 2.9%.
For its part, Spain is below the European average, with 121.3 grams of CO2 per kilometer traveled, despite increasing this figure by 2.7% compared to 2018.
Likewise, among the European countries with the highest average vehicle emissions are Bulgaria and Slovakia, with 137.6 grams and 133.4 grams, respectively, after increasing their emissions by 7.8% and 5.1%. in 2019.
THE MOST POLLUTANTS GROW
This document also states that the number of the most polluting passenger cars has increased in the last year. In this way, more than 30% of the total cars sold in the EU last year emitted more than 130 grams of carbon dioxide for every kilometer it traveled, while in 2018 this figure stood at 27% of the total.
On the other hand, 60% of the cars registered in Europe in 2019 emitted between 96 and 130 grams of CO2 per kilometer, three percentage points less than a year before, while ‘only’ 9% of the cars emitted 95 grams of CO2 or less, as in 2018, but below the figures of 2017, when up to 11% of all passenger cars stood at 95 grams.
However, emissions from new cars accumulate a 20% drop compared to 2008, according to the same data from ACEA.
The association of constructors has also pointed out that although the complexity of the production of new vehicles has increased, the energy consumption for each car has fallen by 16.7% in the last 15 years.
In this way, the average CO2 emissions per vehicle fell by 37.7% between 2005 and 2019, “which reflects the efforts of the industry to reduce emissions”, thanks to obtaining more and more energy from renewable sources or low in carbon.
Also, water consumption per car produced fell by 44.8% between 2005 and 2019, while waste generated per assembled unit fell by 15% in the same years, as did volatile organic compounds (especially emitted in workshops paint on vehicles), which fell 43.3% in the last 15 years.