Ecobonus: the target for renewing the car fleet has not been fully met

The aim of the ‘Ecobonus’ scheme is to modernise the Italian car fleet, with a view to achieving the to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55 per cent compared with 1990 levels by 2030, “does not appear to have been fully achieved”. This is the conclusion reached by the Court of Auditors in its report ‘Incentives for sustainable mobility’, approved by the Central Audit Section for the Management of State Administrations.

The monitoring system has made it possible to track the progress of the scheme in terms of the resources used and the vehicles eligible for incentives: with 4,830 accredited dealers and 1,359,380 bookings, incentives totalling 3 billion euros were booked. However, according to the Court of Auditors, the findings were ineffective for assessing decarbonisation targets. Precisely in order to facilitate a 55 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, the Court states that it is necessary to strengthen information and awareness-raising initiatives aimed at consumers.

The Court points out, in fact, that the original purpose of the measure was to encourage the purchase of vehicles with low environmental impact, with a maximum carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions limit of 60 g/km. At the same time, the eco-bonus was intended to encourage the scrapping of vehicles in the Euro 0 to Euro 4 categories. However, the maximum emissions level for eligible vehicles was raised to 135 g/km: more than double the originally established limit. Furthermore, the majority of purchase reservations were submitted precisely for vehicles classified as M1 (four-wheeled motor vehicles for passenger transport), which fall within the highest emissions bracket: that of up to 135 g/km. The Court points out that the incentive schemes for low- and zero-emission vehicles should have continued to support the uptake of vehicles with emissions of up to 50 g/km of CO₂, thereby also including electric vehicles – battery-powered, fuel-cell and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

According to the Court, designed to take the most obsolete and polluting vehicles off the road, the scrappage scheme forms the core of the incentive, even though the application procedure has not always been straightforward. In fact, the timeframe for opening and closing claims has been extended: from the initial 180 days, it has been extended to 270 due to bureaucratic requirements. The possible alternative to scrapping – that is, placing on the second-hand market – has, however, limited the effectiveness of the scrappage scheme itself. Furthermore, the fact that the second-hand market is particularly thriving in the weaker European regions creates the risk of transporting, along with the vehicles, air pollution to those areas.

Furthermore, with regard to the procedures for allocating the benefits, the Court emphasises that, initially, the incentives were granted regardless of the applicant’s ISEE. In this regard, the Court of Auditors stresses ‘the importance of taking a broader, forward-looking view of the objective of renewing the fleet of vehicles on the road, which must necessarily take into account the limited resources available for state subsidies and consumer demand’.