EU Wants to Force Swedish Companies to Buy Electric Cars

BRUSSELS - The European Commission wants to dictate which cars Sweden's biggest companies buy. Under its proposal, 90 percent of their new cars would have to be electric or very low-emission as early as 2030.

That puts Sweden among the toughest targets in the entire union. Even the Swedish government is pushing back.

The plan, the so-called Clean Corporate Vehicles regulation, was tabled in December last year. It covers new cars and vans registered by large companies, meaning firms with more than 250 employees and at least 50 million euros in turnover.

Around 1,600 Swedish companies would be hit, according to an estimate from the national transport analysis agency that the government has passed on to parliament. Almost 400 of them do not even own a single car.

Companies matter because they buy most new vehicles. According to the Commission, about 60 percent of all new cars in the EU are registered by businesses, and for vans the share is around 90 percent.

Rich countries get the hardest quotas

The targets differ between member states and are based on how strong each economy is. Sweden lands in the top group alongside Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium.

From 2030, 90 percent of large companies' new cars in Sweden would have to be zero- or low-emission, and at least 58 percent fully zero-emission, in practice electric. Low-emission means no more than 50 grams of CO2 per kilometre.

From 2035 the bar rises to 95 percent, and every one of those cars must be fully zero-emission.

For vans the 2030 target is 52 percent, of which 47 percent zero-emission, rising to 95 percent in 2035. Sweden is one of nine countries handed the strictest quotas, while others get away with 56 to 80 percent.

Anyone who remembers Soviet five-year plans will recognise the model. Here it is a table drawn up in Brussels setting exactly how many electric cars Swedish companies must buy in 2030 and 2035.

No support for petrol cars

Formally it is up to each country to hit the targets, using tools such as tax breaks, lower road charges or better charging and parking.

But the proposal also limits what governments may do. From 2028, financial support may only go to zero- or low-emission company cars, and those cars must be made in the EU. The Commission itself would decide what counts as EU-made.

If the rules also apply to taxation, the Swedish government warns they could force changes to Swedish tax law, such as the reduced benefit value for green company cars.

Stockholm: goes further than necessary

In a memo to parliament, the government questions adding more binding national targets. It warns they could make climate policy more expensive and penalise countries that have already moved first.

It also argues the proposal breaks the principle that the EU should not do more than needed, saying its binding rules go "beyond what is necessary".

The Commission's own estimate puts the bill at between 62 and 109 billion euros across the EU from 2029 to 2050, while claiming the benefits will be slightly larger.

MEPs wanted it even tougher

In the European Parliament, the two lead MEPs - a German and a French Social Democrat - wanted to go further than the Commission. Their May draft raises the EU-wide zero-emission target for 2030 from 45 to 54 percent.

For Sweden that would mean 70 percent of large companies' new cars being fully electric by 2030, and 99 percent from 2035.

The environment and transport committees vote on Wednesday, November 4. That is where the quotas could be turned into voluntary goals.

The mandate may lose its teeth

Behind the scenes resistance has grown. According to German media, the centre-right EPP has won over the Socialists and Democrats and Renew Europe to make the targets voluntary, with no penalty for missing them. Germany and France also want them to be only indicative.

Italy and Poland are among the countries that want the proposal scrapped altogether, according to the logistics industry body Clecat. The Commission has said nothing publicly about backing down and still calls the targets binding on its website.

If the deal holds, Brussels will have calculated exactly how many electric cars Swedish companies should buy - and then declared it optional.

After Wednesday's committee vote, the full parliament votes at the end of the year, followed by negotiations between parliament, member states and the Commission.