Last update: 30 July 2014
Title of the measure:
EU 7 Voluntary Agreements to Reduce CO2 Emissions from
New Passenger Cars
General description
In 1998, the Commission signed the voluntary agreements which manufacturer associations had entered
into with it [COM(1998) 495 final]. In 1998 and 1999 commitments were given by associations of
automobile manufacturers in Europe (the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers, or ACEA,
which represents over 80% of annual registrations in the EU), Japan (the Japan Automobile
Manufacturers Association, or JAMA, which represents over 10% of annual registrations) and Korea (the
Korean Automobile Manufacturers Association or KAMA, which represents less than 5% of annual
registrations). These associations committed to achieving an emissions objective of 140 grams of CO2/km
(this objective is expected to be reached in 2008 by ACEA and 2009 by JAMA and KAMA). The
CO2 target must mainly be achieved by technological developments and market changes linked to these
developments.
A voluntary commitment by automobile manufacturers to reduce CO2 emissions is one of the three pillars
of the strategy the EU adopted in 1995 to reduce CO2 emissions, which set 120g/km as the objective to be
achieved by 2005 (2010 at the latest). The difference between the 140 g/km voluntary target and the EU’s
overall target of 120 g/km is to be achieved by the two other pillars of the strategy: informing customers
via labelling about vehicles' emissions of CO2 and encouraging sales of vehicles with low fuel
consumption via tax measures.
The ACEA Agreement, signed in March 1998, included the following major provisions:
i.
ii.
CO2 emission target of 140 g/km to be reached by 2008 (this target represented a 25% reduction
from the 1995 level of 186 g/km)
Possibility to extend the agreement to 120 g CO2/km by 2012
iii.
Intermediate target range of 165-170 g CO2/km by 2003
iv.
Individual ACEA members to introduce models of 120 g CO 2/km or less by 2000
Japanese and Korean manufacturers (JAMA and KAMA) signed similar commitments to that of ACEA,
with the following differences:

JAMA and KAMA target of 140 g CO2/km was delayed by one year, to 2009

JAMA had a wider 2003 intermediate target range of 165-175 g CO2/km

KAMA intermediate target of 165-170 g CO2/km was delayed by one year, to 2004
.
Impact Assessment
Progress toward the CO2 emission targets was monitored jointly by the European Commission and by
ACEA. Annual progress reports were published by the Commission. ACEA progress through 2003 is
illustrated and compared with the targets in Figure 1.
Last update: 30 July 2014
Figure 1. CO2 Reduction from Light-Duty Vehicles Under ACEA Agreement
Details on average CO2 emissions from new light-duty vehicles for 2003 are listed in Table 1. Data for
the period of 2000-2009 is shown in Table 2.
Historic Data
Before 1995 ACEA and JAMA have already started to do fuel efficiency improvements in their passenger
vehicles. The voluntary agreements between the manufacturers associations’ came only until 1998 when
ACEA committed itself to reduce CO2 emissions from new cars. In 1999, JAMA and KAMA joined this
voluntary commitment. It is important to remark that these three associations cover approximately 99% of
the car market in the European Union.
Last update: 30 July 2014
References
 https://www.dieselnet.com/standards/eu/ghg_acea.php
 http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/other/l28055_en.htm
 http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/transport/vehicles/cars/index_en.htm
 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, Implementing
the Community Strategy to Reduce CO2 Emissions from Cars: Fourth annual
report on the effectiveness of the strategy. (Reporting year 2002). [SEC (2004)
140], COM (204) 78 Final (Brussels, 11.02.2004).