On Wednesday 10 April, the European Parliament adopted (by 349 votes in favour, 243 against and 12 abstentions) its negotiating position on the draft ‘EU count emission’ regulation, which includes a common methodology for companies to calculate their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
This methodology should make it possible to compare the carbon footprint of different modes of transport and prevent greenwashing (see EUROPE 13363/8). “For the first time, battery electric vehicles are not magically ‘zero-emission’”, enthused co-rapporteur Barbara Thaler (EPP, Austrian). “However, the production and recycling of a vehicle was omitted, therefore the regulation still gives an unfair advantage to battery electric vehicles produced outside Europe”, she lamented.
MEPs would like to extend the application of the regulation and are asking the European Commission to present, within two years of the entry into force of these new rules, a new methodology for calculating GHG emissions that is derived from the production, use, maintenance and disposal of vehicles, i.e. their life cycle.
They are also calling on the European Commission to develop a simplified calculation tool that is publicly available and free of charge, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in order to reduce their administrative and financial burden.
For its part, the EU Council adopted its negotiating position in December (see EUROPE 13307/11). Negotiations will start after the European elections, under the next mandate.
Read the European Parliament position: https://aeur.eu/f/bql (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)