Negotiators from the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the draft ‘Count Emission EU’ regulation, which includes a common methodological approach for companies in the transport sector to calculate their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, on the evening of Wednesday 5 November.
Under the agreement, transport companies will not be obliged to calculate their GHG emissions. marketingHowever, if they choose to do so, for example for reporting, contractual or marketing purposes, or where required by other European rules, they will be obliged to apply this method.
Transport operations will be expressed in CO2 per tonne-kilometre for freight and in CO2 per passenger-kilometre for passenger transport. To improve accuracy, the agreement gives priority to the use of primary data rather than estimates or default values for GHG emissions, while providing incentives for operators who measure their emissions directly.
GHG emissions data that has already been approved for use under other existing European legislation can be re-used under ‘CountEmissionsEU’.
With regard to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the Commission will be responsible for developing a free calculation tool, specially designed to help them and facilitate the implementation of the regulation.
The calculation method is based on a global standard ISO 14083:2023, which establishes common rules and principles for calculating emissions for transport operations based on the ‘well-to-wheel’ principle.
As requested by MEPs, within four years of the regulation coming into force, the Commission will assess the possibility of expanding the EU methodology to include life-cycle emissions, such as those from vehicle manufacturing, energy production, maintenance, use and end-of-life, once sufficient data and international progress allow. This assessment will guide future updates of the regulations.
The preliminary agreement still has to be approved by the EU Council and Parliament. With a few exceptions, EU countries will have four and a half years to transpose the new provisions into national law and prepare for their implementation. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)