2024-04-23 17:00:21
Thermal cars still pollute as much The European Union has set itself the ambitious objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. However, according to a report from the European Court of Auditors published Monday April 21, 2024, current progress is not clearly not up to the ambitions of the Old Continent. The first failure of the European Union which is highlighted by the report of the European Court of Auditors concerns the objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from thermal engine vehicles. As Nikolaos Milionis, one of the authors of the report, points out, “despite strong ambitions and strict requirements, most current thermal cars still emit the same amount of CO2 as 12 years ago”. In other words, although there have been technological advances, they ultimately have no effect, since the new engines are heavier and therefore consume more than the old ones. And this trend does not spare plug-in hybrid vehicles. Still according to the report, these types of vehicles, although they are generally classified as low emitters, actually display a gap of 250% between emissions in the laboratory and those observed on the road. Second failure pointed out by the European Court of Auditors: the development of alternative fuels such as biofuels and hydrogen. According to the report’s conclusions, the production of biofuels, in addition to being disorderly, their production is “not viable on a large scale”, and it poses ethical dilemmas, particularly with regard to environmental preservation. . Europe on the verge of failing its transition to electric cars With the ban on sales of thermal cars planned for 2035, the two elements mentioned above might have less importance, since the objective of carbon neutrality thus rests on the car electric. But here too, according to the report of the European Court of Auditors, the Old Continent is more than lagging behind. First pitfall in the transition to electric cars: the lack of charging stations. As the report highlights, 70% of charging points on the Old Continent are concentrated in only 3 countries out of 27: France, Germany and the Netherlands. Second obstacle, and not the least: the production of batteries. The report from the European Court of Auditors thus warns of Europe’s “extreme dependence” on “imports of resources from third countries” and at the same time recalls that it “does not have satisfactory trade agreements » with the latter, which represents “geopolitical risks for its strategic autonomy”. Europe indeed imports “87% of its raw lithium from Australia, 80% of its manganese from South Africa and Gabon, 68% of its cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo and 40% of its graphite from China “. As a result, the Old Continent is only capable of producing 10% of global battery production, while China can boast of producing 76% of global production. Consequence: the cost of producing a single battery for a European electric car can climb up to 15,000 euros. Electric cars, which are sold mainly thanks to public aid, might soon be unaffordable. This possibility is all the more worrying as several countries, such as Germany and France, are considering reducing public aid. Conclusions of the report of the European Court of Auditors? The transition to electric cars remains the only way to achieve carbon neutrality, but without a firm commitment from the member countries of the European Union, this objective will only be a mirage, and mobility might emerge as a new social marker.
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