EU strikes deal to ban combustion- engine cars by 2035

The European Union on Thursday struck an agreement on legislation to phase out new CO2-emitting vehicles by 2035, negotiators announced.

The talks between representatives of the European Council, fronting the 27 member states, and the European Parliament started Thursday and underpin the bloc's transition towards a carbon-neutral future.

"We have just finished the negotiations on CO2 standards for cars," tweeted French MEP Pascal Canfin, who heads the European parliament's environment commission.

"Historic (EU) decision for the climate which definitively confirms the target of 100 percent zero emission vehicles in 2035 with intermediary phases between 2025 and 2030."

Cars currently account for about 15 percent of all CO2 emissions in the EU, while transportation overall accounts for around a quarter.

The agreed text, based on a proposal by the EU executive in July 2021, calls for reducing CO2 emissions from new cars in Europe to zero by 2035.

This means a de facto halt to sales of new petrol and diesel cars, light commercial vehicles and hybrids in the bloc by that date, in favour of all-electric vehicles.

The European Parliament had in June voted in favour of the 2035 ban on all vehicles with internal combustion engines. Currently around 12 percent of new cars sold in the European Union are electric vehicles, with its consumers shifting away from CO2-emitting models as energy costs and greener traffic regulations bite.