Tánaiste Micheál Martin, on behalf of Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, has received Government approval for Ireland to seek leave to intervene in a case regarding emissions at the European Court of Justice.
The Government wants to intervene in an action which aims to overturn a strengthening of CO2 emission standards for new passenger cars and new light commercial vehicles in line with the European Union’s increased climate ambitions, and which are considered critical to delivering on the EU’s ban on sales of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles by 2035.
The increased emissions targets are a drop of 55 per cent in cars and 50 per cent in vans by 2030, and 100 per cent from January 1st, 2035.
The Government is understood to be relying heavily on this legislation to support the delivery of a Programme for Government commitment to ban ICE sales by 2030.
The European Commission has indicated that a complete ban of the marketing, import or registration of new ICE vehicles in a single member state is not compatible with EU law, and an EU-wide approach is therefore required.
Therefore, Ireland is restricted in introducing such a ban by way of domestic legislation.
It is understood the Government approval to intervene relates to the Kiene and Others action against the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
The applicants, who are involved in the development, production and sale of “carbon-neutral synthetic fuels”, claim that regulations which set targets for reduced carbon emission values are only based on tailpipe carbon emissions.
They say that emissions during the manufacture, sale, use and disposal of a product outside of the operation of the vehicle were therefore “disregarded, without any justification”.
They claim this fails to consider the occasionally high emission values, in particular in the production of battery-powered electric vehicles, and fails to take account of the fact that the production of carbon-neutral synthetic fuels relies on carbon from the atmosphere or from unavoidable exhaust gases that would otherwise have gone into the atmosphere, and that the combustion merely releases the carbon bound during production again.
They allege the regulation breaches their right to freedom to conduct a business, their right to property by devaluing their previous investments, and their right to equality through treating carbon-neutral fuels different to electrical-charging energy for battery-powered electric vehicles.
They further allege an infringement of EU environmental policy because lifetime pollution of vehicles is not being taken into account.
It is understood the Government believes that if the case is successful, it would significantly impact on the EU’s ability to achieve its ambition for the transport sector as well as Ireland’s own ability to meet its 2030 climate action targets.
The Government believes there is a strong rationale to seek leave to intervene, particularly due to concerns over its target for private fleet electrification, which is a key measure in the decarbonisation of the sector nationally.
The Government has a target under the Climate Action Plan of having almost a million electric vehicles on Irish roads by 2030.
The Programme for Government commits to legislation to ban registration of new fossil fuel cars and light vehicles from 2030 onwards, and to phase out diesel and petrol cars from Irish cities from 2030.
It is understood that a number of other EU member states are also actively considering seeking leave to intervene.
The deadline to notify the ECJ is October 23rd.
