48-vote backing advances EU’s looser 2035 car CO2 package

By Grace Kim

48 votes in favour, 30 against and two abstentions carried the European Parliament’s Environment Committee’s approval of a draft that would relax EU carbon dioxide limits for new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) on November 4.

The vote moves the Auto Package toward a December plenary decision, but Parliament approval will not make the rules final. Member states must follow with a vote under a qualified majority: at least 15 countries representing at least 65% of the EU population.

What changes for automakers?

Negotiators from the conservative European People’s Party (EPP), social democratic Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), and liberal Renew Europe drafted the passenger-car target. They set a 95% CO2 fleet reduction against 2021 by 2035, rather than the existing 100% endpoint.

Automakers could claim up to 7.5 percentage points of additional relief by using climate-friendly steel produced in Europe. That would leave an effective reduction target as low as 87.5%.

For LCVs, the proposal sets a 35% emissions reduction by 2030, against 40% in the Commission’s draft and 50% under current regulations. It lowers the 2035 target from 100% to 80%, with the same 7.5-point steel credit available.

Credits for low-CO2 steel could count from the revised regulation’s entry into force through the end of 2034, with a maximum of 3 percentage points. The three negotiating groups say the targets would still leave room for new ICE (internal combustion engine) and hybrid registrations after 2035. That would relax the existing de facto ban on new combustion vehicles.

Salini, an Italian EPP member, said: “Our agreement marks a turning point for the European automotive industry. The approval of vehicles with internal combustion engines without offset obligations would remain possible, preserving technological freedom and restoring prospects for the entire supply chain.”

He added: “Decarbonisation does not mean prescribing a single technology – we also recognise vehicles as emission-free if they run exclusively on renewable fuels that comply with the Renewable Energy Directive, similar to electric vehicles.” Salini also said low-CO2 steel produced in Europe “can be used immediately, rewarding European production and strengthening the Union’s strategic autonomy.”

How did the committees vote?

The Industry Committee backed the proposal 49 votes to 27 on October 22, with five abstentions. The Transport Committee approved it 27-18, with one abstention. That committee had postponed its originally scheduled October 5 vote by two and a half weeks so the centre platform could settle its position.

Handelsblatt reported that every EPP, S&D and Renew member in the Industry Committee backed the deal. The same degree of consensus was not confirmed for the other two committees. The three-party ‘centre platform’ agreed a position roughly three weeks before the October votes, after internal bargaining positions repeatedly leaked. The committee approvals provided the first tangible sign of an emerging parliamentary majority.

How does this differ from Brussels’s draft?

The European Commission issued its Auto Package at the end of 2025, responding to industry warnings that keeping the de facto 2035 ban on new ICE cars would deepen the sector’s crisis. Germany also pressed the executive, which set a 90% fleet-emissions cut against 2021. That equated to 11 grams of CO2 per kilometer, rather than zero.

The Commission draft removed any date for a 100% reduction. It required full compensation (offsets for the remaining emissions) for the final 10% through green steel and climate-friendly fuels. The parliamentary compromise recognizes European steel as a compensation route without requiring full compensation up to the 100% line. Steel enters the calculation.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed on a joint position: a 90% cut without compensation. Der Spiegel called the bilateral compromise “groundbreaking for the vote in the Council of EU Member States.”

What could still change?

Parliament can approve the package by simple majority, and the EPP is its largest group. The Council then requires a qualified majority, with at least 15 countries representing 65% of the EU population. Member states can seek amendments, and the Commission designed the package to attract support across differing national positions. The Council remains decisive.

Germany and six other countries with relatively low electric-vehicle shares in new registrations had sought weaker CO2 targets and support for ICE vehicles. France, previously an opponent, has apparently shifted position, reportedly securing German support for “Buy European” procurement requirements in return.

The next checks are the December plenary vote, the Council decision that follows and the revised regulation’s entry into force. Until adoption, the 95% car target, 80% van target and steel credits remain a legislative proposal, not enforceable fleet rules.