The European Commission will propose limits for the first time on carbon dioxide emissions from trucks and will also set new fuel efficiency standards for cars and vans from 2020.
According to a draft document seen by Reuters, the European Union currently has no limits on truck emissions, unlike other countries such as the United States, China, Japan and Canada, which already have truck fuel efficiency standards.
The EU has a limit of 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer (g/km) by 2021 for cars and vans, but has so far not done the same for trucks, which are responsible for around a quarter of road transport emissions and that share of emissions could increase by 2030, according to the commission.
In Europe, the industry has resisted targets for trucks on the grounds that their different shapes and sizes make a “one-size-fits-all” approach to limiting carbon dioxide emissions difficult and that fuel efficiency has already helped lower their carbon footprint.
But last year, several EU countries urged the commission to take action on trucks.
The document lists proposals to lower the carbon dioxide impact of transport, including a “legislative proposal to set fuel efficiency standards for heavy duty vehicles” and a revision of emissions standards for cars and vans post-2020.
To prepare the ground for the new limits, the commission will propose a law on the certification of carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption of new trucks, namely a carbon dioxide test procedure, as well as a law on monitoring and reporting trucks’ fuel consumption.
