Moving faster towards zero-emission for heavy goods vehicles?

Green MEP Yannick Jadot has been appointed Parliament’s recorder on the regulation on CO2 emission standards for HGVs. He presented his proposals to the Commission yesterday morning (June 20) in an online briefing.

Revising this regulation is the final piece of the “Fit for 55” package and it was also the subject of an Orientation debate at the Environment Council yesterday. Yannick Jadot started by pointing out that lorries account for 2% of traffic, but are responsible for 28% of CO2 emissions from transport. They account for 6% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, “which is more than aviation,” stressed the MEP.

The recorder then recalled that the Brussels text calls for 90% of heavy goods vehicles sold to be zero-emission by 2040, with the figure rising to 65% by 2030 and 75% by 2035. This is not enough for Yannick Jadot, who asserted that European manufacturers – who are leaders in this field – are ready to make a technological breakthrough. In addition, California has passed a regulation requiring zero-emission by 2036.

A 100% zero-emission target for heavy vehicles by 2040

Parliament is therefore going to propose a target of 100% by 2040, with thresholds of 65% in 2030 and 95% in 2035. With electricity and hydrogen, costs will be reduced by €45,000 a year, says Mr Jadot (about $49,000). At one point, it looked as if he was leaving the door open to the combustion engine, as long as it did not exceed 1g of CO2 per tonne-kilometre*. But Hydrogen Today asked him to be sure. And the MEP is not in favour of the hydrogen combustion engine.

He went on to mention a condition put forward by industrialists, which he endorses: “recharging infrastructures must be developed, for both electric and hydrogen vehicles.” Yannick Jadot is therefore going to propose raising the minimum thresholds set out in the AFIR (Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation). In passing, he points out that a review clause was in any case planned for 2026. He wants “more infrastructure.”

He then mentioned buses. For the time being, the European Parliament does not intend to go back on the 2030 target for zero-emission buses. However, it did express a preference for buses produced in Europe, to counter competition from China.

You can read the European Parliament document here.

*He alluded to a simulation tool called Vecto, which proposes a common basis.

Do you want to learn more about this subject? Then our latest 2 articles should interest you. One is about about the standards proposed by Europe for heavy vehicles. The other is about AFIR.