By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union should require new trucks to have zero CO2 emissions starting in 2040, according to the European Parliament’s lead lawmaker on the rules who is seeking higher targets to reduce the sector’s impact on climate change.
The EU is preparing tougher CO2 standards for new trucks in the European market, aiming to meet a net zero emissions target across the 27-nation bloc’s economy by 2050.
In February the European Commission, which drafts EU laws, proposed a 2040 target for manufacturers to reduce the average CO2 emissions of new trucks they sell by 90%.
The European Parliament will consider toughening that rule to a 100% CO2 cut, according to a draft report by lawmaker Yannick Jadot, the assembly’s lead negotiator on the rules.
The EU should set stronger truck CO2 limits for 2030 and 2035 – a 65% and 95% emissions cut, respectively, Jadot said.
“This is really something we need, to make sure that the European manufacturers – and this is what they’re asking for – are on a good track vis-a-vis international competition,” Jadot said in an interview.
Some manufacturers have already committed to decarbonise their heavy-duty fleets. Daimler Truck, for example, has pledged that its new trucks will be CO2-neutral from 2039 in Europe, the U.S. and Japan.
The draft is the first signal of how the EU parliament will attempt to amend the Commission proposal. EU lawmakers will vote on Jadot’s draft report, possibly amended, later this year ahead of negotiations with EU member governments on final legislation.
Countries including the Netherlands and Denmark have backed a 100% CO2 cut for 2040, but others, including the Czech Republic, have said the EU should not yet set a long-term goal.
Jadot said anything less than a 100% CO2 cut by 2040 would mean CO2-emitting trucks are still on the road in 2050, threatening the EU’s core climate goal.
Trucks in the EU were, on average, 14 years old in 2021, the vast majority running on diesel, according to data published this year by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett; editing by Mark Heinrich)
