Let me bring you up to date on what's happening in EU. It's not entirely good news I'm afraid. to be honest, as things stand today the legislation is bordering on useless, after new proposals put forward at a meeting between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission to hammer out the final text of the EU legislation.

The Commission had proposed that the average new car sold in Europe in 2012 should emit no more than 130 grams CO2 per kilometre. But if all the loopholes discussed in Council today were adopted, the legislation would never be able to deliver on that promise. Instead carmakers would be given the green light to increase car emissions from now until 2012.

© Greenpeace/Dom Dibbs

"This is the last chance saloon for the EU to present an effective law to reduce emissions from cars," according to Greenpeace EU transport Campaigner Franziska Achterberg. "The Germans and other manufacturing states have successfully bullied the French into emptying this legislation of all its meaning. Their shoddy deal means that the 130 gram target would be wishful thinking. The average car sold in Europe in 2012 could emit more CO2 than it does today."

Greenpeace has worked out that if this latest proposal was adopted, carmakers could actually increase their emissions in 2012 to more than 160 grams and still stay inside the rules. In 2007, average CO2 emissions from new cars sold in the EU were 58 grams per kilometre. In 2015, average emissions could still be as high as 139 grams per kilometre.

So it might not comes as a surprise that German carmaker Volkswagen has declared itself ready to meet the targets. It's not that hard to reach the bar when it's set so low. Or that it's one of the companies pushing the EU for €40 billion in cheap loans to build more fuel-efficient cars even though the Volkswagen group has seen its profits rise, despite plunging European sales.

Franziska Achterberg thinks the Council proposal is a complete farce. "You have legislation to cut emissions that will let them rise and you have car makers saying what a struggle it will be to meet targets that require no effort, while they’re begging for handouts in order to keep on churning out gas-guzzlers."

And what's the ask from Greenpeace? We want the EU to remove all loopholes, set penalties that encourage compliance, drop the idea of an unnecessary delay and set a stringent EU target for 2020. But you should know all that by now.

And if you haven't already, you can help influence the outcome in three easy steps.

1. Sign the petition.
2. Tell your friends to sign the petition.
3. Put a link on your website or blog to the petition. www.greenpeace.org/eurocarsmerkel