The European Environment Agency (EEA) published an analysis note on Wednesday 7 September in which it reports a steady annual increase in greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty vehicles since 2014 in the EU, with the exception of 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
More broadly, the agency reports, GHG emissions from trucks, buses and coaches rose by 29% between 1990 and 2019 in the EU, making these vehicles responsible for a quarter of total road sector emissions.
The EEA paper attributes the rise in heavy-duty vehicle emissions to the fact that demand for freight transport has risen sharply in the EU and that technical and technological advances to achieve a greener sector have not been able to wipe out the consequences of this increase.
In order to achieve, in particular, the objectives set by the Commission in the framework of the ‘Fit for 55’ package (see EUROPE 12992/9), the EEA thus insists on further improving the fuel efficiency of vehicles and calls for additional efforts to promote the modal shift from road to rail freight transport. In addition, the EEA document also calls for a reduction in the number of car journeys or their duration, to reduce emissions.
See the document: https://aeur.eu/f/2ze (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)