On September 14th, the European car lease sector showed their leadership in a faster introduction of fuel-efficient cars on European roads. In a meeting with Commissioner Hedegaard of Climate Action, lease sector representatives together with environmental NGOs from several Member States, presented the Commissioner with the first results of project Cleaner Car Contracts: over 120.000 cars (and counting) will far outpace CO₂-requirements as set in the EU Regulation on CO₂-emissions from passenger cars.

The European lease sector controls about 40% of all new cars entering European roads, and increasingly advise their clients to acquire the most fuel-efficient models. This makes the lease sector a key driver of fuel-efficiency.
Vehicle fuel-efficiency is rapidly becoming a distinguishing selling point in the car leasing business, because in business, fuel-efficiency equals cost-effectiveness. Faster introduction of fuel-efficient vehicles means the lease sector can make a better business proposition to their clients, saving them money.

In Cleaner Car Contracts, environmental NGOs from five EU countries1 have asked lease companies and other fleet owning companies to sign up for an ambitious fuel-efficiency target for their newly acquired fleets in 2012. Companies pledge these fleets to emit no more than 120 or 130 gr CO₂/km on average, which outpaces European legislation for new passenger cars2.

Even beyond the participating countries, lease companies respond enthusiastically to the Cleaner Car Contracts initiative.

On http://www.cleanercarcontracts.eu, the counter of cars added to Cleaner Car Contracts is updated almost every day. Companies interested to join can also find more information on the website.


From left to right:
Hans Blink (Athlon Car Lease), Vincent Rupied (Arval International), Connie Hedegaard (EU Commissioner for Climate Action), Christophe Vanhecke (GE Capital), Marc Vandenbergh (ING Car Lease), Chris Nobel (project leader Cleaner Car Contracts)

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A high-resolution picture of Commissioner Hedegaard receiving the preliminary results can be found by clicking here.

For further information, please contact mr. Chris Nobel, project leader for Cleaner Car Contracts, at +31 30 2348 278 or via
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mr. Mari den Hartog, press officer at Stichting Natuur en Milieu, at +31 6 1448 7427 or via
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

1) Cleaner Car Contracts is an initiative of Stichting Natuur en Milieu (the Netherlands Society for Nature and Environment). Partner NGOs are: Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) in Germany; Terra! Onlus in Italy; the Danish Ecological Council in Denmark; and Bond Beter Leefmilieu Vlaanderen (BBLV) in Belgium.
2) The EU Regulation on CO₂-emissions from Passenger Cars states that car manufacturers need to make sure that all new cars sold in 2015 on average emit no more than 130 gr CO₂/km. This target is phased in between 2012-2015.