The news from the EU parliament is that the vote of the environment committee has been postponed to the 22nd of September.

It’s hard to be sure exactly why, when there have been enough rumours to feed an entire zoo in the last 24 hours. But while people are trying to work out whether it’s really true a surprising number of people are wandering around the EU parliament’s Mickey Mouse bar clutching champagne glasses, so maybe someone’s happy about it.

Reuters are reporting that it’s a bid to tighten up proposals. I’ve heard that it might be that the environment committee are scratching their heads in attempt to work out what all those compromises and amendments in the Industry Committee vote add up to.

I can say with some confidence that work of Greenpeace and other NGOs here has had a big impact on the decision. All those meetings I talked about previously are having an effect. I’ve heard that the socialists are really angry with the industry opinion when they were told that the phase in that came as part of it would mean that even the most polluting cars would not have to make any improvement until 2015. In the mean time the climate begins to crash.

Greenpeace and others are reporting that Sacconi now wants to buy time to increase the pressure on the French Presidency, so that they can get a parliamentary decision to conclude the negotiations before the end of the year. So it looks like the French will have to pressure the Parliament’s right wing majority to accept a stronger agreement that will force manufacturers into action – with fewer loopholes and penalties that deter non-compliance.

A few campaigners did a quick reckon up today using Greenpeace's 10 Easy Steps to cut car emissions. They worked out that car makers only need implement 2 existing measures across all new cars sold to get some good reductions.

Optimising gear boxes for the power of individual car models instead of applying a one gear box fits all approach could save 9.3%. Putting a stop-start feature in all new cars would mean engines switch off automatically when idling and would save 5%.

That adds up to quite a saving for the planet, let’s hope the environment committee vote does too.