Photo Staffan Vilcans
(STRASBOURG) – The EU Parliament has backed plans for lorries to cut CO2 emissions by 2030, adopting a higher target (35%) than the Commission (30%) for new lorries to reduce the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
In their resolution, MEPs backed an intermediate target of 20% by 2025. Manufacturers will also have to ensure that zero- and low-emission vehicles (which emit at least 50% fewer emissions) represent a 20% market share of the sales of new ones by 2030, and 5% by 2025.
Before 2020, MEPs are asking the European Commission to come up with plans for a real-world CO2 emissions test for on-road emissions.
Heavy-duty vehicles are responsible for around a quarter of CO2 emissions from road transport in the EU. Without further action, their emissions are expected to grow due to increasing road transport volumes.
MEPs acknowledge that a ‘socially acceptable and balanced transition to zero-emission mobility’ requires changes throughout the automotive value chain, with a possible negative social impact.
They therefore ask that the EU assist workers in the sector learning new skills and reallocating, particularly in regions and communities most affected by the transition.
For its 2022 report, the Commission is asked to consider assessing CO2 emissions produced by heavy-duty vehicles during their full life-cycle, and propose, if necessary, reporting obligations for manufacturers.
“We are regulating the CO2 emissions of heavy-duty vehicles for the first time in European history,” said Parliament’s rapporteur Bas Eickhout MEP: “The sector is growing fast and so are its emissions. We agreed to raise the ambition compared to what the Commission is proposing, which is possible with the existing technologies. We also need to prepare for new ones, and this is why we are proposing this zero- and low-emission mandate, to push the market into new technologies”.
Heavy-duty vehicles are responsible for 27 % of road transport CO2 emissions and almost 5 % of EU greenhouse gas emissions (2016 data). Since 1990, heavy-duty vehicle emissions have increased by 25 % mainly as a result of an increase in road freight traffic and, in the absence of new policies, they are projected to increase further.
Following the vote, MEPs will now enter into negotiations with the Council of Ministers.
Further information, European Parliament
Adopted text will be available here (click on 14.11.2018)
EP study: Post-2020 emissions targets for cars and vans
Procedure File – New heavy-duty vehicles: CO2 emission performance standards
