Members of the European Parliament voted through the world's toughest carbon dioxide standards for new cars on Tuesday, prompting a cautious welcome from environmental campaigners.
The new rules set a limit of 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer (g/km) as an average across all new cars sold in the EU, compared with an existing limit of 130 g/km.
The European Commission, the EU executive, proposed the target should apply from 2020, but full implementation has been delayed for a year following months of negotiation.
Germany, on behalf of its luxury car makers, such as Daimler and BMW, campaigned hard for more time to implement the legislation, which its car industry says will still be extremely challenging.
Environmental campaigners said the phase-in meant only 95 percent of new cars would meet the 95 g/km target in 2020, equating to a 3 g/km weakening of the target, but Tuesday's vote was still progress.
"The final agreement is still a good deal for the environment, EU economy and drivers - reducing fuel use and CO2 emissions," said Greg Archer, clean vehicles manager at non-governmental organization Transport & Environment.
Although the plenary session of the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg approved the draft law, members of the Green Party voted against it.
Rebecca Harms, co-president of the Greens in the European Parliament, said the weakening of the 2020 limits was "a shameful sop to German car manufacturers and will slow the development of new technologies to deliver more efficient and less polluting cars".
EU officials said they expected member states to give final endorsement over the coming weeks.