Recital 2

(2) The automotive sector is an important contributor to the use of energy and material resources by the Union, and hence to the generation of greenhouse gases. The production of vehicles in third countries that are placed on the Union market contributes to the generation of global greenhouse gases, which in turn has a negative environmental impact on the Union. A shift from the use of fossil fuels in vehicles to zero emission mobility, as provided for in the ‘Fit for 55’ package, is one of the prerequisites for reaching the climate-neutrality goal by 2050. It will reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from the automotive sector linked to the use phase of vehicles. The automotive industry is one of the largest users of primary aluminium, steel and plastics, linked to the manufacturing of new vehicles placed on the Union market. This can represent a significant environmental impact, linked to the energy required for the extraction and processing of these materials. The environmental footprint linked to the manufacturing of new vehicles could increase with the ongoing electrification of the fleet, the ongoing growth in size and weight of the vehicles, as well as due to more widespread use and complexity of electronics in future models, which both require a considerable amount of critical and strategic raw materials and precious metals, such as copper and rare earth elements. The result of those changes is that the production phase could have a larger environmental footprint than the use phase of vehicles, and that European industry could become more and more reliant on imports of critical raw materials and vulnerable to supply disruptions, to the detriment of its competitiveness. In addition, the current requirements in Union law on waste management result in a suboptimal recovery of resources from end-of-life vehicles, and there is a high potential to increase the quantity and quality of parts, components and materials to be repaired, re-used, remanufactured, refurbished, retrofitted or recycled from vehicles during the use phase and from end-of-life vehicles. To address these environmental impacts and contribute to the decarbonisation of the sector, and support competitiveness by increasing the resilience of the automotive industry, it is necessary to improve the functioning of the single market and enhance the transition of the automotive industry to a circular economy. This is in line with the communication of the Commission of 11 March 2020 on a new Circular Economy Action Plan – For a cleaner and more competitive Europe which called for a revision of the current rules to promote more circular business models by linking design issues to end-of-life treatment, consider rules on mandatory recycled content for certain materials, and improve recycling efficiency. This is also in line with Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3). The Council and the European Parliament also stressed the need for new Union rules on those matters, replacing the existing rules on type-approval of vehicles when it comes to re-usability, recyclability and recoverability and on end-of-life vehicles.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-14 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.