US CAFE standards are well-known to have resulted in the switch from station wagons to minivans and SUVs, resulting in a great overall increase in emissions than what would have otherwise occurred.
The new (2020/2021) European regulations allow approximately 1 g/km of extra CO2 emissions per kg of extra curb weight for passenger cars. [1]
It's actually less emissions per unit mass, so I was wrong on that fact, but the point of perverse incentives to make cars bigger to be allowed more emissions still stands (I think?)
Also, diesel vehicles are basically banned in most places unless they're coal-rollers - even though they have way less CO2 emissions than their gasoline counterparts.
In my opinion, if the North American and European governments had truly wanted to reduce absolute levels of emissions, instead of just following existing technology and trying to take the credit for it (like they do for NOx emissions, and probably will for electric cars), and making complex rules that favour certain manufacturers at the expense of others, then they'd have just have made a Kei car category. [2]
The new (2020/2021) European regulations allow approximately 1 g/km of extra CO2 emissions per kg of extra curb weight for passenger cars. [1]
It's actually less emissions per unit mass, so I was wrong on that fact, but the point of perverse incentives to make cars bigger to be allowed more emissions still stands (I think?)
Also, diesel vehicles are basically banned in most places unless they're coal-rollers - even though they have way less CO2 emissions than their gasoline counterparts.
In my opinion, if the North American and European governments had truly wanted to reduce absolute levels of emissions, instead of just following existing technology and trying to take the credit for it (like they do for NOx emissions, and probably will for electric cars), and making complex rules that favour certain manufacturers at the expense of others, then they'd have just have made a Kei car category. [2]
[1] https://ww2.frost.com/frost-perspectives/european-emission-r...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car