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.
2025 Automotive Package – Proposed revision of the Regulation on CO₂ standards for cars and vans
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.
Target levels
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:
- Cars: 93,6 g CO2/km (2025-2029) and 49,5 g CO2/km (2030-2034)
- Vans: 153,9 g CO2/km (2025-2029) and 90,6 g CO2/km (2030-2034)
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.
Manufacturer targets
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.
Incentive mechanism for zero- and low-emission vehicles (ZLEV)
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:
- Cars: 25% ZLEV
- Vans: 17% ZLEV
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.
Pooling
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.
Penalties for excess emissions
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.
Exemptions and derogations
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:
- A “small-volume” manufacturer (responsible for less than 10 000 new cars or less than 22 000 new vans registered per year) can propose its own derogation target, based on the criteria set in Article 10 of the Regulation.
- A “niche” car manufacturer (responsible for between 10 000 and 300 000 new cars registered per year) can apply for a derogation for the years until 2028, included. The derogation targets are calculated as set out in Article 10(4) of the Regulation and in point 5 of Part A of its Annex I. Feel free to access the values used to calculate the “niche” derogation target from 2025 onwards.
For more information, look at our Derogations folder.
In-service verification
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.
Real-world emissions
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.
Eco-innovations
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.
- Regulation (EU) 2023/851 amending Regulation (EU) 2019/631 on strengthening CO2 emission standards for cars and vans
- Regulation (EU) 2019/631 setting CO2 standards for new cars and vans (consolidated version)
- Commission proposal
- Impact assessment (part 1 and part 2) and executive summary
- Non-paper on higher ambition levels for targets and ZLEV and Technical update
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/392 on monitoring of CO2 emissions from cars and vans and real-world fuel or energy consumption values
- Commission Notice C/2017/3563 - Guidance on the monitoring and reporting of data on new light-duty vehicles
- Further information (guidelines, reporting schemas, list of manufacturers, monitoring decisions)
- CO2 Data Viewer - cars (European Environment Agency)
- CO2 Data Viewer - vans (European Environment Agency)
- Real-world CO2 emissions data viewer (European Environment Agency)
Method for the collection of the premium:
Provisions for the application for a derogation:
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2867 – guiding principles and criteria
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2866 – procedures
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2767 - procedures for the approval and certification of eco-innovations. This Regulation has replaced and repealed Regulations (EU) 725/2011 (cars) and (EU) 427/2014 (vans).
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.
Reports of older studies can be found on CIRCABC
- 2023 - Support for the in-service verification of CO2 emissions of new light- and heavy-duty vehicles
- 2023 - CO2 in-service verification test campaign and methodology development for light-duty vehicles
- 2023 - Support for the preparation of a procedure to certify CO2 savings from the use of efficient mobile air conditioning (MAC) systems
- 2019 - Preparation for collection and monitoring of real-world fuel consumption data for light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles
- Risk assessment for the 2024 In-Service Verification (ISV) of CO2 emissions of Light-Duty Vehicles
- From NEDC to WLTP: effect on the type-approval CO2 emissions of light-duty vehicles
- Characterisation of real-world CO2 variability and implications for future policy instruments
- Light Duty Vehicle CO2 Emission Reduction Cost Curves and Cost Assessment - the DIONE Model
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