The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg published, on Friday 20 January, a joint non-paper calling on the Commission to publish an ambitious text on the proposed revision of the CO2 standards for heavy duty vehicles (2019/1242) as soon as possible, in order to promote the transition to zero-emission vehicles.
Specifically, the four Member States believe that a zero emission target for new heavy duty vehicles should be introduced by 2050. This final target would be accompanied by a “strengthened” target, based on “the ambitions expressed by European manufacturers (OEMs) and fleet owners”.
In addition, the four Member States consider that the revision of the current text should extend the application of the CO2 standards to more vehicle categories than those covered by the current scope.
“The current CO2 reduction targets are only applicable to a small share of freight vehicles on the road, leaving almost 35% of emissions out of scope”, the non-paper says.
According to the authors of the paper, these targets would comply with the provisions included in the European climate law, the Paris Agreement and the objectives of the effort sharing regulation.
All this, the Member States insist, will make it possible “to send a strong signal to the market”. They also add that the ongoing negotiations on the deployment of alternative fuel infrastructure (see EUROPE 13046/12) “provide an opportunity to align the objectives of charging infrastructure with the increased ambitions for the heavy duty vehicle sector”.
See the non-paper: https://aeur.eu/f/503 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)