CO2 emissions from new cars increased slightly in 2019. Importers therefore miss the reduction target for the fourth consecutive year. A breach that costs them more and more. They had to pay around 78 million francs.
Some 314,000 passenger cars were newly registered in 2019. Their average consumption increased by 1.6% compared to the previous year to 6.18 liters of petrol equivalent per 100km, said Thursday l Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) in a press release.
And the average of their CO2 emissions was around 138.1g of CO2 / km, an increase of 0.2%. Importers thus miss the target value of 130g of CO2 / km which should have been reached at the latest in 2015. In doing so, they put on their hats for the fourth consecutive year.
The increase in these two values is notably due to the growing share of 4×4 (more than half of cars), the slightly higher curb weight as well as the decline in the share of diesel vehicles, according to the SFOE. This fell to 26.7% against 30.3% the previous year, while the share of at least partly electric vehicles rose to 5.6% (3.2% in 2018).
Different measures
The measures were also established differently, further clarified the SFOE. With the new method, the deviation from actual consumption has been reduced. It had sometimes exceeded 40% in recent years.
A justification also put forward by Auto Suisse. The transition to the new method was already felt in 2018, said his spokesman Christoph Wolnik. About 25% of the cars were affected. In 2019, it was more than 90% of vehicles.
According to him, this change obscures the effective reduction of CO2 emissions from new cars. And to underline that alternative propulsions, namely hybrid, electric, gas or fuel cell, are increasing significantly. From 7.2% market share in 2018, they rose to 13.1% in 2019 and 21.6% in the first half of 2020.
The coronavirus crisis could, however, hinder the targeted reduction of the average CO2. “Many highly efficient models will hit the market late,” says Christoph Wolnik. ‘Added to this is a massive subsidization of alternative training in certain European countries, such as France or Germany. This drives manufacturers to deliver the corresponding vehicles in these countries as a priority. ‘
Fifty million more
Without having reached the objectives in 2019, importers had to get their hands on the wallet. The sanctions amounted to 78.1 million francs, 98.5% of which concern the 79 major importers.
This is almost 50 million additional compared to the previous year. At issue: a change of rule. Until 2018, the first three grams exceeding the target value were subject to reduced sanctions.
Net receipts are distributed between Switzerland and Liechtenstein according to the number of registrations and importers. Switzerland’s share of CHF 76.2 million is paid into the Fund for National Roads and Urban Traffic (FORTA).
Decline in tractors
An improvement is however to be noted for delivery cars and light fifth wheel tractors. The CO2 emissions of these vehicles decreased slightly from 183.3g of CO2 / km in 2018 to 181.5g of CO2 / km the following year. Their average consumption amounted to 7.95 liters of gasoline equivalent per 100km.
A welcome drop. The target value for this category will be 147g of CO2 / km from 2020.
/ ATS
– .
