The EU council, parliament and commission representatives met in the final "trilogue" on Monday night to work out a deal to set targets on CO2 emissions for cars.

Though the car industry has been lobbying hard to get an agreement that will allow them to wriggle out of making any reductions, and to some extent they've got away with that in the short term, the good news is a long term target has been set.

The initial target of 130g will be phased in over 3 years, which means the car industry has until 2015 to put the brakes on their CO2 emission levels. Penalties are weaker than we'd have liked, so that in some cases carmakers could choose to pay the fine rather than make the required improvements.

But there is some good news for the climate, and while analysts are going through the fine print of the agreement to work out whether it's a jewel in the crown or just a piece of glass in the plastic, what's clear is that there is a long term target of 95g by 2020. That means the car makers are going to have to shift up a gear to get emissions down over the next decade.

It looks likely that the deal will be signed off in a vote later this month.

Greenpeace will be keeping an eye on what steps the carmakers take to meet the targets.
In the long term, car makers are going to have to change their ways, whether they like it or not. At the end of last year emissions levels were around 158g for new cars so manufacturers need to start making significant reductions.

And the market is changing - all over Europe people are switching from gas guzzling cars to more economical versions. Whether that's because they care about climate change or whether it's a case of simple economics in this global recession, the effect is the same. It's all good for the climate.

Whatever the reason, people are doing the right thing - now it's time for the carmakers to step up to the plate