REDUCING CO2 EMISSIONS (12389/06)
Letter from the Chairman to Malcolm Wicks
MP, Minister of State for Energy, Department of Trade and Industry
Sub-Committee B considered this document, and
your Explanatory Memorandum, at its Meeting on 16 October 2006.
We note and applaud the considerable success
of the three schemes in reducing CO2 emissions from passenger
cars since 2003. We do however agree that efforts will have to
increase substantially if the targets are to be met in 2008-09.
We would be grateful to receive a copy of the Government Paper,
published in September 2006, which your Explanatory Memorandum
mentions. Could you explain to us which alternative approaches
to the voluntary scheme the Government favour?
We will maintain scrutiny on this document at
this stage.
17 October 2006
Letter from Malcolm Wicks MP to the Chairman
Thank you for your letter of 17 October, concerning
the existing voluntary agreements between the European Commission
and the European, Japanese and Korean vehicle manufacturers associations
(ACEA, JAMA and KAMA) to reduce the level of CO2 emissions from
new passenger cars.
The progress made by car manufacturers under
the voluntary agreements has significantly contributed to the
reduction of CO2 emissions from cars but as these agreements expire
in 2008-09 the Commission are already considering future policy
options to replace them. It is the Commission's intention to issue,
by the end of the year, a communication on a revised strategy
to reduce CO2 emissions from cars and it is likely this will include
a preferred option to replace the current voluntary agreements.
The Government wishes to proactively engage with the Commission
ahead of their planned communication in order to help shape the
direction of policy and to ensure that any future preferred option
is right for British business and society.
I enclose a copy of the discussion paper that
was published by the Department of Transport (DfT) on 13 September
as requested (not printed). The discussion paper follows the commitment
made by government in the Energy Review to continue to work with
the European Commission and relevant stakeholders in developing
successor arrangements to the current voluntary agreements when
the existing agreements expire. It will be used to inform our
discussions with the Commission and other Member States on what
should replace the current CO2 voluntary agreements.
The paper was published as an initial consultation
to gauge stakeholder views and is open for responses until 8 November.
Full details can be found on the DfT website.[41]
It specifically sets out five possible options including new voluntary
agreements, three regulatory/mandatory options, which include
trading, and the inclusion of car manufacturers in the EU Emissions
Trading Scheme. The Government is interested to hear the views
of stakeholders on how these different options might work in practice
and also to receive and consider alternative suggestions that
we have not included here. It is the Government's intention to
hold a full public consultation on this issue in due course.
There are of course other policy options for
reducing CO2 emissions from road transport that are outside the
scope of this discussion paper such as alternative fuels, better
traffic management systems, eco driving and consumer choice. Government
is pursuing these measures in accordance with the recommendations
of CARS 21, which strongly endorsed adopting an integrated approach
to tackle carbon emissions. An overall view of policy options
to reduce carbon emissions from transport and other sectors can
be found in the Climate Change Programme 2006.
1 November 2006
Letter from the Chairman to Lord Truscott,
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Energy, Department
of Trade and Industry
Thank you for your letter of 1 November 2006,
Sub-Committee B considered your letter at its meeting on 27 November.
Thank you for sending us the Department for
Transport's discussion paper on the strategy. We will consider
it carefully in the context of the forthcoming Communication setting
out a preferred strategy which you expect the Commission to publish
in due course.
We are content to life scrutiny on this document,
and await the forthcoming Communication.
We would be grateful to you for an update when
the Government has completed its public consultation on this issue.
30 November 2006
41 http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_roads/documents/divisionhomepage/612500.hcsp Back
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