CO2 emissions from new passenger cars in Europe: Car manufacturers’ performance in 2021

This briefing paper provides an overview of CO₂ emission levels of new passenger cars in the European Union in 2020 based on a preliminary dataset recently released by the European Environment Agency. The dataset showed that new cars sold in the European Economic Area in 2021 had average CO₂ emissions of 115 g/km determined following the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP), which is approximately 16 g/km lower than average emissions in 2020. Including flexible compliance mechanisms, average emissions declined to 113 g/km.

According to the preliminary data, all manufacturers appear to have met their 2021 CO₂ targets. Only two manufacturer pools required flexible compliance mechanisms to do so. Eight out of ten pools had already exhausted their super-credits in 2020 for vehicles with New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) CO₂ emissions below 50 g/km, which are capped at 7.5 g/km for the period 2020–2022. Eco-innovation technologies awarded for innovative technologies, lowered CO₂ emission levels by 0.2 to 2.0 g/km.

Uptake of all forms of electrified powertrain vehicles increased from 2020 to 2021. Battery electric vehicle (BEV) market shares grew from 6.1% to 10.1% and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) shares grew from 5.3% to 9.2%. Hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) shares grew by roughly one third, from 4.7% to 6.6%, and mild hybrid electric vehicle (MHEV) shares using 48-volt systems almost doubled from 7.7% to 13.8%. Diesel market shares, including mild-hybrid electric vehicles, continued to fall, decreasing from 30% in 2020 to 23% in 2021. Other powertrains, predominantly compressed natural gas and liquified petroleum gas vehicles, accounted for 2.7% of the market.

Figure 1. Historical average NEDC and WLTP CO2 emission values and targets of new passenger cars.

Related Content