Environmental Policies and Lobbying by Automotive Makers in Europe

Abstract

The regulatory environment is one of the major determinants of competitiveness of the automotive industry as it affects almost all aspects of doing business. (European Commission 2004) This chapter discusses lobbying (‘corporate political activities’ — CPAs) of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the automotive industry with regard to the issue of environmental regulations in the European Union (EU) and what effect this has on the European car market. It considers the relationship between car companies and regulatory bodies in the European Union (Commission and Parliament) and discusses how companies have tried to interact with decision-makers to influence environmental regulations. The chapter discusses environmental regulations in general and with respect to Europe, including the motivation of companies to engage in lobbying in this area and then goes on to discuss three areas of environmental regulations where automotive lobbying has taken place — pollutant emissions, CO2 emissions and end-of-life vehicles (ELVs).KeywordsEuropean UnionEnvironmental RegulationAutomotive IndustryPollutant EmissionEuropean ParliamentThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.