EU lawmakers voted in the mandate for all car and van sales to be zero emissions from 2035 with 339 in favour, 249 against and 24 abstentions. Photo: European Union 2022

EU lawmakers voted in the mandate for all car and van sales to be zero emissions from 2035 with 339 in favour, 249 against and 24 abstentions.  Photo: European Union 2022

Members of the European Parliament voted to ban combustion engine cars and vans from 2035, a move that is part of the EU’s Fit for 55 Package outlining the bloc’s green transition.

EU lawmakers voted in the mandate for all car and van sales to be zero emissions from 2035 with 339 MEPs voting in favour, 249 against and 24 abstentions. Manufacturers will be required to make the transition with a progressive switch to zero-emission vehicles at two milestones: 2025 and 2030.

Environment ministers will meet to sign the final version of the legislation on June 28 at a summit in Luxembourg. The grand duchy is the EU’s member state with the highest number of vehicles per capita and has held that record for . In 2019, there were 681  per one thousand inhabitants in the country, according to EU statistics bureau Eurostat.

The transition to electric vehicles has been swift in Luxembourg with the Société nationale de circulation automobile (SNCA) marking a rise in new hybrid and electric car registrations increasing from 3,797 in 2020 to 7,225 in 2021. Second-hand vehicles in the electric category rose from 2,473 to 4,649 over that period.

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