Average CO2 emissions from new cars were 118.5g/km in 2017, an increase of 0.4% compared to 2016.

The data was published by the European Environment Agency (EEA), this week.

It confirms the provisional 2017 figures, already published by the EEA in April last year.

“It is no coincidence that 2017 marked the first increase in CO2 from cars since records began in 2010, as it was also the first year that petrol overtook diesel in terms of new car sales,” said Erik Jonnaert, secretary general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).

Petrol cars emit 10-40%more CO2 emissions than equivalent diesel cars, according to the EEA.

 “Given that sales of diesel cars continued their decline in 2018, all indications unfortunately point to CO2 emissions increasing for a second year running in 2018,” added Jonnaert.

Recent ACEA data shows that last year only 2% of all new cars registered were electrically-chargeable. By contrast, petrol further expanded its market share by almost 6.5 percentage points in 2018, accounting for 56.7% of all cars sold in the EU.

Meeting the 2021 CO2 targets – not to mention the extremely stringent 2025 and 2030 targets that were agreed recently – will require a much stronger uptake of alternatively-powered cars.

“All auto manufacturers continue to invest strongly in their portfolios of alternatively-powered cars, most notably electric ones,” Jonnaert explained.

“However, the reality is that consumers are not rushing to buy these vehicles in large numbers.”

There are several major barriers holding back consumers, such as the affordability of these cars and the lack of suitable charging and refuelling infrastructure across the EU, said the ACEA.

“We urge national governments and EU policy makers to make the much-needed infrastructure investments so that sales of electrically-chargeable cars can really take off in Europe,” Jonnaert said.

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