Figures out this week from the European Environmental Agency (EEA) show that Portugal recorded the lowest CO2 emissions per kilometre for new cars sold in 2016.
Portugal is followed by the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece in this list, where taxes on new and larger sized cars are also among the highest in Europe.
Researchers said that the fuel efficiency of new cars sold in the European Union continued to improve last year but at a slower rate. In fact, the 1.4 g of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometre reduction compared to 2015, constitutes the smallest annual improvement recorded over the last decade, according to provisional data published by the EEA.
Average CO2 emissions of a new car sold in 2016 were 118.1 g CO2/km. This represents a decrease of 1.4 g CO2/km (1.2 percent), compared to the previous year. This reduction is the smallest annual improvement recorded since 2006 for new cars sold in the EU.
Official emissions have, however, decreased by more than 22 g CO2/km or 16 percent since 2010, when an updated monitoring system started under the current EU legislation.
The EU remains well below its target of 130 g CO2/km set for 2015, but it is clear that, compared to 2016, annual improvements in vehicle efficiency need to significantly increase in each of the coming five years in order to achieve the second average emissions target of 95g CO2/km by 2021.
For the second successive year, the share of diesel vehicle sales declined and in 2016 fell below 50 percent of new sales — the lowest share of new sales since 2009 , according to the official statistics. While the overall share of diesel vehicle sales fell, absolute sales still increased by more than 192 ,300 vehicles compared to 2016, according to provisional data. However, diesel cars still remain the most sold vehicle type in the EU representing 49.4 percent of new sales, followed by petrol vehicles (47 percent), and alternatively fuelled vehicles (3.3 percent, including electric vehicles).
Overall, average CO2/km emissions decreased in all countries in 2016, except in the Netherlands, where emissions increased by almost 5 percent to 106 g CO2/km. However, the Netherlands, together with Portugal (105 g CO2/km), Denmark and Greece (both 106 g CO2/km) remains among the countries having the most fuel-efficient new cars sold. The least fuel-efficient cars continue to be bought in Estonia (134 g CO2/km).