Renault gets tough on eco2 qualifying

Renault is promising to toughen the qualifying criteria for vehicles seeking to bear its eco² environmental signature to mark the programs 4th year of operation.

As Renault claim that they are aiming to reduce the environmental impacts of their cars at each stage of their life cycle, from now on eco² vehicles will have to: 

• be manufactured at an ISO 14001-certified plant;
• emit less than 120 g/km of CO² (down from 140 g/km previously) or run on biofuels;
• contain at least 7% recycled plastic (up from 5% previously) and be designed so that 95% of their mass can be recovered at end-of-life.

The manufacturer highlights the Twingo dCi as the flag bearer of this initiative, as it has reduced its CO² emissions by more than 13% in two years; from 104 g/km to 90 g/km.

Renault was recently ranked the top company in the automotive sector emitting the least CO² in Europe by British NGO the Environmental Investment Organisation (EIO). They are promising only more good things for the environment as well, with a commitment to cut average CO² emissions across their European range from 135 g/km to 120 g/km in 2013, and then to less than 100 g/km in 2016. Four new fully-electric vehicles will also be introduced into the market by mid-2012.