After three years of problematic increases, CO2 emissions from new cars have fallen sharply in 2020 in Europe, helped by the breakthrough of electric vehicles as well as new standards, the European Environment Agency announced on Tuesday.

Last year, the average emissions of a new vehicle put into service in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Iceland and Norway fell by 12%, to 107.8 grams of CO2 per kilometer, for vehicles. some 11.5 million cars registered in these 30 countries.

Record beaten but objective below expectations

The decline of nearly 15 grams per kilometer in 2020 "represented the first decrease since 2016" and "coincides with the entry into force of a stricter emissions standard on January 1, 2020", underlined the European Commission in a statement.

Driven by the vogue for more fuel-hungry SUVs, emissions had risen successively in 2017, 2018 and 2019, interrupting years of steady decline and calling into question European targets.

The 2020 level becomes the best performance achieved so far: the 2016 record, which was 118.1 grams per kilometer, is clearly broken.

But this is still behind the targets that the European Union had set itself, namely 95 grams for the year 2020. The next target is to reach 81 grams in 2025 and around 60 grams in 2030, according to the EEA.

Three times the share of electricity

On July 14, the European Commission is due to present new measures aimed at achieving the more ambitious climate objectives of the 27, with a new revision of automobile emission standards, in particular for gasoline cars.

For comparison, a new car in the EU emitted on average 172 grams per kilometer in 2000 and 140 grams in 2010, according to the EEA.

The decline in 2020 is mainly due to the jump in electricity, with the nuance that a greater part of their emissions are found upstream of their marketing, mainly due to the impact of batteries.

Last year, the share of electric vehicles in new registrations tripled in one year, jumping to 11% from 3.5% in 2019, according to the EEA.

The milestone of one million cars sold in one year has been crossed for the first time.

In the 30 countries, the world electric champion Norway is the most virtuous (38.2 grams per km) while Bulgaria is last (133).

France is 7th (98.5), Belgium 12th, Italy 13th, the United Kingdom 14th, Spain 16th.

The biggest car market in Europe, Germany is 18th with 113.6 grams on average.

The data is still provisional and needs to be reconfirmed.

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