Ahead of the 3rd October Plenary vote on ‘Emission performance standards for new passenger cars and for new light commercial vehicles’, EPHA is calling on Members of the European Parliament to follow the political compromise reached at the ENVI committee about CO2 reduction targets of 20% by 2025 and 45% by 2030.
Transport is one of the main contributors to the poor air quality in Europe. Air pollution is costly: the recent European Court of Auditors (ECA) report pointed out that the EU Commission estimated the total health related external costs of air pollution at between €330 and €940 billion per year.
The ENVI agreement on targets is an ambitious but realistic compromise which bring significant health savings, as evidence shows that switching to zero and low emission alternatives to achieve CO2 targets will have additional benefits by reducing health-harmful pollutants (PM2.5, NO2, or Ozone).
Tackling emissions will bring economic and health-related advantages by increasing healthy life years and reducing the costs of national budgets and healthcare systems linked to the treatment of air pollutant-related diseases.
By following the ENVI compromise, the European Parliament has an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how the EU added value in policies like transport emission reduction can improve citizens’ lives.
We call on MEPs to set a strong precedent for citizens’ health on 3rd October by supporting the ENVI compromise!
Zoltán Massay-Kosubek
Policy Manager for Policy Coherence
