CO2 emissions rise as Europe’s new car fleet bulks up

A number of industry forecasts have highlighted a slight increase in CO2 emissions from the new European passenger car fleet in 2017, with much of the blame directed toward a rise in gasoline’s share of sales, and a dip in diesel demand.

Data from the European Environment Agency (EEA) shows that average CO2 emissions from new cars sold in Europe rose by 0.4% in 2017 following a five percentage point drop in diesel’s market share, down to 44.8%. During the same period, gasoline’s share rose to 49.4%. However, while the focus has been on the specific fuel in question, the data suggests that an increase in fleet average vehicle weight is the primary antagonist, with average CO2 emissions from diesel cars rising by 1.1g CO2/km.