The average CO2 emissions of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles registered in Europe decreased significantly in 2025 compared with 2024, according to provisional data released today by the European Environment Agency (EEA).
The reduction, the EEA explains, is linked to the increase in the share of vehicles registered with zero emissions. The data are based on information on all newly registered cars and vans, provided by the countries.
A total of 10.8 million new cars were registered in the European Union (EU), Norway and Iceland in 2025, a number almost equal to that of 2024.
On average, these vehicles emit 96.7 grams of CO2 per kilometre (CO2/km), which is 10 grams CO2/km less than in 2024 (106.7 CO2/km).
A decrease that is mainly due to the increase in electric cars, which last year accounted for 18.9% of the total, an increase of 4.5 percentage points compared with 2024.
For plug-in hybrid cars the share was 9.7%.
According to the data released today, the share of fully electric vehicles was higher in Norway (96%), Denmark (69%) and Iceland (43%).
In 2025, 1.2 million new vans were registered in the EU, Norway and Iceland, representing a 9% drop from 2024.
The average emissions were 172.1 grams of CO2/km, a reduction of 12.8 grams CO2/km compared with 2024.
Fully electric vans accounted for 10.3% of the total fleet (versus 6.2% in 2024), and 1.7% of new vans were plug-in hybrids. The highest share of fully electric vans in the fleet was recorded in the Netherlands (84%), Norway (46%) and Denmark (31%).
