Cars and vans – climate.ec.europa.eu

Passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (vans) are respectively responsible for around 16% and 3% of the EU’s total carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. 
To tackle these emissions and support the clean mobility transition, Regulation (EU) 2019/631 sets CO₂ emission performance standards for new passenger cars and vans.
With stricter targets in force since 2020, average CO₂ emissions from all new passenger cars registered in Europe fell by 28% between 2019 and 2024, while average emissions from new vans dropped by 9%. The main driver of this decrease is the surge in zero-emission vehicles across Europe, which respectively amounted to 14.5% and 6.4% of new cars and vans registrations in the EU (and Norway and Iceland) in 2024. The share of zero-emission vehicles has increased further in the course of 2025.
As part of the ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package, the emission standards set by Regulation (EU) 2019/631 were revised by Regulation (EU) 2023/851, which introduced a 100% emission reduction target for new passenger cars and vans from 2035 onwards.
In December 2025, the Commission presented the Automotive Package to support the automotive sector’s efforts in the transition to clean mobility.
The Package includes a proposal for a review of the CO₂ emission standards for cars and vans. With this proposal, the CO₂ standards now provide further flexibilities to support the industry and enhance technological neutrality, while providing predictability to manufacturers and maintaining a clear market signal towards electrification.
According to the proposal, from 2035 onwards, carmakers will need to comply with a 90% tailpipe emissions reduction target, while the remaining 10% emissions will need to be compensated through the use of low-carbon steel made in the Union, or from e-fuels and biofuels. This will allow for plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), range extenders, mild hybrids, and internal combustion engine vehicles to still play a role beyond 2035, in addition to full electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen vehicles.
Prior to 2035, car manufacturers will be able to benefit from “super credits” for small affordable electric cars made in the European Union. This will incentivise the deployment on the market of more small EV models. 
For the 2030 target for cars and vans, additional flexibility is introduced by allowing “banking & borrowing” for 2030-2032. An additional flexibility is granted for the vans segment, where the electric vehicle uptake has been structurally more difficult, with a reduction of the 2030 CO₂ vans target from 50% to 40%.
For more information on the Package, please consult the dedicated webpage.
Please find below more details on the EU fleet-wide CO₂ emission targets in place from 2025 onward currently in place under Regulation (EU) 2019/631.
2025 to 2034
These targets were set out in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/1623:
From 2035 onwards 
The EU fleet-wide CO₂ emission target for both cars and vans is 0 g CO₂/km, corresponding to a 100% reduction.
The annual specific emission targets of each manufacturer are based on these EU fleet-wide targets, taking into account the average mass of its registered new vehicles. 
The manufacturer targets from 2025 onwards are calculated in accordance with point 6 of Annex I (parts A and B) to Regulation (EU) 2019/631, using the values set out in Annex II to Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/1623.
In April 2025, the European Commission proposed a targeted flexibility measure allowing car and van manufacturers to meet 2025–2027 CO₂ targets over a three-year average rather than annually. This amendment was adopted by the European Parliament and of the Council on 17 June 2025 as Regulation (EU) 2025/1214. For more information on this flexibility, please consult our dedicated Q&A in the Documentation section below.
Under Regulation (EU) 2019/631, a ZLEV crediting system applies both for car and van manufacturers from 2025 to 2029. The system alleviates a manufacturer’s specific emission target if its share of new ZLEV (vehicles with emissions between 0 and 50 g CO₂/km) registered in a given year exceeds the following benchmarks:
A one percentage point exceedance of the ZLEV benchmark will increase the manufacturer’s CO₂ target (in g CO₂/km) by one percent. The alleviation of the emission target will be capped at maximum 5% to safeguard the environmental integrity of the Regulation.
To calculate the ZLEV share in a manufacturer’s fleet, an accounting rulegive a greater weight to ZLEVs with lower CO₂ emissions. An additional multiplier may apply for cars registered in Member States with a low share and number of ZLEVs registered in 2017.
Different manufacturers can act jointly to meet their emissions target. When forming a pool, manufacturers must respect the rules of competition law. Pooling between car and van manufacturers is not possible.
According to Regulation (EU) 2019/631, if the average CO₂ emissions of a manufacturer’s fleet exceed its specific emission target in a given year, the manufacturer must pay – for each of its new vehicles registered in that year – an excess emissions premium of €95 per g/km of target exceedance.
Manufacturers responsible for fewer than 1 000 new cars or fewer than 1 000 new vans registered in the EU per year are exempt from meeting a specific emission target in the following year, unless they voluntarily apply for a derogation.
Manufacturers may apply for a derogation from their specific emission target with the following conditions:
For more information, look at our Derogations folder.
Manufacturers must ensure that the CO₂ emissions recorded in the certificates of conformity of their vehicles and the in-service CO₂ emissions of such vehicles correspond. Type-approval authorities must verify this correspondence in selected vehicles, as well as the presence of any strategies to artificially improve the vehicle’s performance during type-approval tests. 
In case deviations or artificial strategies are detected, type-approval authorities must report those to the Commission, who will take them into account when calculating the average specific emissions of a manufacturer. Authorities must also ensure the correction of the certificates of conformity, and may take additional measures as set out in the Type Approval Regulation. 
Find more information in our In-service verification folder.
To assess the real-world representativeness of the CO₂ emissions and the fuel or energy consumption values determined during type-approval, as well as to prevent the growing of the gap between emissions tested in the laboratory and real-world emissions, the Commission is collecting real-world data from cars and vans using on-board fuel consumption monitoring (OBFCM) devices, starting with vehicles first registered in 2021.
Find more information in our Real-world CO₂ emissions folder.
To promote the development of new and advanced technologies reducing CO₂ emissions from vehicles, manufacturers may obtain emission credits for cars and vans which are equipped with innovative technologies (eco-innovations) whose full CO₂ savings are impossible to demonstrate during their type-approval.
The manufacturer must demonstrate these savings based on independently verified data. The maximum emission credits for these eco-innovations per manufacturer are 7 g CO₂/km per year until 2024, 6 g CO₂/km from 2025 to 2029, and 4 g CO₂/km from 2030 to 2034. As of 2025, the efficiency improvements for air conditioning systems will become eligible as eco-innovations.
For more information, look at our Eco-innovations folder.
Click on the + signs for more information.
Method for the collection of the premium:
Provisions for the application for a derogation:
How will this new flexibility work in practice?
Rather than having to comply with the CO₂ emissions reduction targets annually for the years 2025, 2026 and 2027, manufacturers’ compliance will be assessed based on their performance over the entire three-year period. This is a temporary flexibility for this period.
In practice, manufacturers will have to ensure that their average specific emissions of CO₂ over the period 2025 to 2027 do not exceed their emissions target. This means that over-emitting in one year can be compensated with overcompliance another year, to ensure that average emissions over the three years do not exceed the target. All vehicle manufacturers will be covered by this new compliance mechanism, thus ensuring a level playing field.
A manufacturer’s average emissions of CO₂ over this three-year period will be calculated as the average of its annual emissions of CO₂, weighted according to the number of its vehicles registered in each of those years. Similarly, a manufacturer’s target over that period will be calculated as the average of its annual targets, weighted according to the number of its vehicles registered in each of those years.
 
Does this flexibility mean that we are changing our CO2 reduction targets?
The proposed amendment does not change the CO₂ reduction targets established under the Regulation. For the years 2025 to 2029, Regulation (EU) 2019/631 sets a 15% reduction target for the EU fleet average CO₂ emissions of car and van manufacturers compared to the 2021 baseline.
The additional flexibility for manufacturers lies in the calculation of their compliance – if manufacturers were to exceed the target in certain years of this three-year period, they would need to compensate by overachieving the target in the other year(s), thus maintaining the ambition of the targets.
 
Will the Commission continue to monitor CO₂ emissions every year?
Yes, all the monitoring and reporting provisions remain unchanged to ensure full transparency.
 
Can manufacturers with a limited number of vehicles registered in the EU still benefit from derogations with this new flexibility?
The possibility for manufacturers to apply for derogations from their specific emissions CO₂ targets, when they register less than 10 000 cars or 22 000 vans per year (‘small-volume’ manufacturers) or less than 300 000 cars per year (‘niche’ manufacturers), remains in place.
For such manufacturers, the compliance assessment for the period 2025 to 2027 will follow the same principles as for any other manufacturer. For each year when the manufacturer was granted a derogation, the derogation target will be used for the purpose of calculating the specific emissions target applying over the three-year period.
Click on the + signs for more information.
Reports of older studies can be found on CIRCABC
1. Main report
Accompanying documents
2. Summary of the Delphi Survey Round 1 Responses (Appendix A2.1 to the report)
3. Summary of the Delphi Survey Round 2 Responses (Appendix A2.2 to the report)
4. Critical Review report
Results viewer:
5a. Introduction
5b. Results viewer
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