Brussels, 18/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - There is a substantial gap between CO2 reduction potential in emissions from heavy duty vehicles by 2030 as calculated in the European Commission's impact assessment and the possible scope of reductions founded on a scientific basis, according to the Impact Assessment Institute (IAI) study published on Monday 18 January.
This critique by the NGO set up in 2015 to analyse impact studies contained in EU legislation, looks at the impact of the European Commission impact study accompanying its 2014 communication on “the strategy for reducing carbons consumption and CO2 emissions from heavy duty vehicles” [SWD (2014) 160 final].
Although the Commission's counted on a projected 35.1% cost-effective CO2 emission reduction potential by 2030, the resulting figure supports a CO2 emission reduction potential of only 20%, according to the IAI. The study identified two main analytical gaps: “The calculation of combined CO2 reduction measures did not consider the inherent overlaps and the cost of advanced propulsion technology had been substantially underestimated”.
The Commission's Impact Assessment anticipates that CO2 reduction measures will be significantly less expensive in practice than its own projections, citing studies on CO2 emissions of passenger cars. The IAI suggests: “This expectation has not been substantiated with direct evidence” and proposes further analysis to provide clear evidence for whether and to what extent such a cost reduction effect can be applied to heavy duty vehicles. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)