Lifecycle emissions and vehicle CO₂ standards

The latest discussions on the review of the EU car and van CO₂ standards in both the Council and European Parliament have seen several stakeholders calling for the current tailpipe emissions approach (which sets CO₂ target compliance against emissions measured from the vehicle exhaust) to be replaced with a lifecycle (LCA) one (which aims to count all emissions connected to the vehicle). There is a particularly strong push from the oil, gas, and some auto supplier industries to include fuels into the scope of the regulation. They claim this would be the first step in moving towards an LCA approach. This short note provides arguments and evidence on why this would not be feasible or desirable.