EESC Approved Opinion on the 'Review of the CO2 emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles'
FuelsEurope welcomes the adoption of the Opinion on the ‘Review of the CO2 emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles’ by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).
Alessandro Bartelloni, FuelsEurope Director, was co-rapporteur of the Opinion, which highlights the role of the Fit for 55 package, as the cornerstone that “must ensure a life-cycle approach and avoid road transport decarbonisation leading to a shift of emissions upstream in the value chain.”
Furthermore, the opinion of the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change states that the HDV CO2 regulation based on the "tailpipe" approach needs to be complemented by other policy instruments to incentivise the use of renewable, non-fossil fuels for the part of the fleet running on internal combustion engines (ICE).
The Opinion adopted last week underlines that “the resilience of the EU economy would benefit from a diversified technology strategy, with sustainable fuels complementing BEVs and hydrogen vehicles, while these two technologies develop and widen their domestic EU basis”, and that “the technology-neutral option presents numerous advantages. It would notably mitigate the risks both in technology development and in the security of supply.”
Finally, the ‘Review of the CO2 emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles’ Opinion highlights that “the methodology distinguishing between linear CO2 emissions (from fossil fuels) and circular or net-zero emissions (from e-fuels and sustainable biofuels), in a life-cycle context, shows that efficient ICE and hybrid vehicles, fuelled by sustainable biofuels and e-fuels, have a carbon footprint comparable to that of BEVs using fossil-based electricity”.
Read the full document here: europa.eu/!WcFHfP
