Needless to say, European environmentalists and the car industry are at war with each other over the legislative push to cut CO2 emissions from the transport sector, the one area where EU GHG emissions have been rising rapidly.

So, what type of legislation will ultimately emerge?

An excerpt from the BBC story:

The next step in the legislative procedure will be an impact assessment of the proposal tabled by the European Commission.

Draft legislation should follow later this year - at which point the lobbyists will shift their focus to the European Parliament and the governments of the 27 member states, which have the power to approve, amend or reject the bill.

Fiat, Citroen and Renault have reduced CO2 emissions far more than VW, BMW and Volvo Their success is partly due to selling more efficient diesel cars Manufacturers say there has been "no clear demand" from consumers for fuel-efficiency Some SUVs emit more than 360g of CO2 per kilometre Most brands failing on CO2

The end result could be quite different from proposal that the European Commission has put together with so much difficulty and internal friction.

Germany has already signalled that it has strong views on the subject.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would "never agree" to any proposal that penalised makers of big cars - such as the original suggestion from Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.

He told the BBC last month he wanted each manufacturer to get its average car's emissions below 120g of CO2 per kilometre.

But in the light of Ms Merkel's uncompromising stance, an approach which sets a target for the industry as a whole - and spreads the burden across all Europe's manufacturers - will probably be needed.

Mr Dimas has already been forced to scale down the reduction in emissions that carmakers will have to achieve from new vehicle technology alone.

They are now only being asked to reach emissions of 130g/km - which compares to an average of 162g/km for new European cares sold in 2005.

French successes

In fact, some European carmakers are already making rapid progress towards such a goal.

Fiat has already met a target voluntarily adopted by the industry, to bring emissions down to 140g/km by 2008.

Citroen and Europe's second largest carmaker, Renault, are on track to meet this voluntary target too and Ford and Peugeot are not far off.

By contrast, the biggest carmaker in terms of sales, Volkswagen, is among the companies that has made least progress.

Among the major European manufacturers only Audi, Volvo and BMW are doing worse, according to a study published last year by the pressure group Transport and Environment.

Given these differences in performance, it is possible that the industry will not present a united front in the months to come.

France could also take a different position from Germany in discussions between the member states.

It's a pretty comprehensive article. Read the whole thing.