For the very first time, on Thursday 17 May, the European Commission proposed imposing limits on CO2 emissions from Europe’s heavy-duty vehicle fleet, which, unlike private cars and vans, has so far remained on the fringes of efforts to tackle climate change.
The Commission chose a two-stage approach: a 15% reduction by 2025, compared with 2019, as a legally binding target based on available technology and a 30% cut by 2030 as an indicative goal to be reviewed in 2022, when new technologies will be available (see EUROPE 11221).
This clean mobility proposal forms part of the third package on mobility (see other articles). It responds to the goals of the Paris climate agreement and, at the same time, to the urgent need to address air pollution which is the cause of 400,000 premature deaths annually in Europe and to make lorry manufacturers more competitive.
Making the point that transport generates one quarter of total EU CO2 emissions, Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, speaking to the press, emphasised the need for the EU to close the gap on the United States, Canada and China which have already put in place emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles. Seven years will give manufacturers sufficient time to adapt to electric vehicles and redesigned lorry cabs, he said.
Climate Action Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete said the proposal sought three goals: tackling the rise in emissions from heavy-duty vehicles which produce a quarter of road sector emissions and which, if nothing were done, could rise by 10 points by 2050; keeping Europe at the head of the global market where competition is tough; and offering fuel savings, given that fuel counts for a quarter of operating costs. The proposal should allow 600,000 operators to cut their running costs.
“All sectors must contribute to meeting our climate commitments under Paris Agreement” (Ed.: reducing EU greenhouse gases by at least 40% by 2030 compared with 1990), Cañete said.
The 2025 target, which the Commission says is “ambitious but realistic”, was established on the basis of an in-depth impact assessment and after consultations with NGOs and industry. It will apply to the four major types of lorry. The 2022 review will allow the scope of the text to be extended to all categories of heavy-duty vehicles, including buses and coaches.
The proposal contains other measures, such as: - speeding up the roll-out of lorries equipped with aerodynamic cabs; - labelling of tyres for heavy-duty vehicles; - incentives to speed up the transition to low- or zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles, in the form of super credits for manufacturers of heavy vehicles – including buses – which invest in innovative technologies.
The challenge is great since, at the present moment, the entire European heavy goods fleet runs on diesel.
The Commission argues that the benefits will also be great: the predicted emissions savings (2.7 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030) equate to the total emissions of Sweden. The proposal would see 25,000 operators make savings on fuel costs, it would also create 120,000 jobs by 2030, save 170 million tonnes of imported oil and create the conditions for Europe to attract investment.
NGOs such as Transport and Environment (T&E), some major international makes, and indeed several member states, had hoped for a much more ambitious target of a 24% reduction by 2025. T&E welcomed the proposed fuel economy standards but was critical of the supercredit system, which it calls “an accounting trick that undermines the effectiveness of the standard, promoted by the truckmakers’ lobby”.
In the European Parliament, Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France), who chairs the transport committee, found the proposal “very disappointing” and stated: “We will argue for a target of halving emissions by 2030 and a zero-emission lorry fleet by 2050”.
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which represents the seven major EU producers of heavy-duty vehicles, continues to find the 2025 target too ambitious but welcomes the Commission’s two-step approach. It also supports the proposal to validate the indicative 2030 target at a later point, “as this would allow the latest fuel efficiency technologies available at that point in time to be taken into account”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)