The European Commission is proposing to set its first ever CO2 standard for trucks in the EU. Its plans would see CO2 emissions for heavy commercial vehicles reduced by at least 30% below 2019 levels by 2030.
According to the Commission website, lorries, buses and coaches produce around a quarter of road transport CO2 emissions in the EU and around 5% of its total greenhouse gas emissions – a greater share than either international aviation or shipping.
Some environmental campaigners and EU governments have called for even more ambitious CO2 reduction targets of at least 24% for 2025 and 34–45% for 2030.
Why the wait?
Countries including the US, China, Japan and Canada already have their own truck emission reduction targets, but so far the EU has lagged behind in this regard. Part of the problem has been the diversity of commercial vehicles, which makes it problematic to set a uniform limit for each.
EU authorities had believed that competition between truck makers to reduce their own emissions would be sufficient, but two years ago it transpired that truck producers had been rigging their prices over several years, making it clear that tighter regulations are called for.