ACEA Secretary General speaks at trade union conference
On 27 January, European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) Secretary General Erik Jonnaert spoke on a panel at an event on the regulation of CO2 levels in the automotive industry.
The event, hosted by German auto worker’s trade union IGMetall, covered a number of aspects of how CO2 legislation affect jobs, growth and innovation in the EU. The high level event was an opportunity for stakeholders across the automotive spectrum to come together to discuss these key themes.
Speaking during the event, Mr Jonnaert said, “We should ensure that the automotive industry, which provides jobs to more than 12 million people in Europe, remains competitive. Only a competitive industry can afford the investment which will be needed to ensure further reductions in CO2 emissions.”
Mr Jonnaert added, “Before we embark on setting new targets, we need to learn from what worked and did not work under the current CO2 regime. The market uptake of alternative fuel cars has up until now been disappointing and will need to be further addressed in any future proposal in order to most successfully reduce CO2 emissions further. While 95 % of total CO2 emissions come from older technologies in the existing car fleet, policymakers continue to target new vehicles only, which represent barely 5% of the total parc.”
Mr Jonnaert concluded by saying that only a balanced and more integrated approach targeting all sources of emissions will help address the real challenges ahead.
