Truck Makers Must Monitor Carbon Ahead of EU Emissions Cut
Daimler Trucks, Renault Trucks, Scania AB, and other heavy vehicle manufacturers must calculate and report the carbon dioxide emissions of their new models starting Jan. 1, 2019.
Sitting in Strasbourg, France, European Parliament lawmakers June 12 voted 612-56 with 11 abstentions in favor of the regulation. The new reporting requirement comes before the introduction of an EU emissions standard for trucks that would cut the average carbon dioxide output of new heavy vehicles by 15% by 2025 compared to 2019.
The emissions monitoring regulation approved June 12 requires truck manufacturers to use a standard methodology to calculate carbon emissions and report them to authorities in EU countries. Standardized EU data will then be collated and published by the European Environment Agency.
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The publication plan could lead to “dissemination of technically sensitive information” and could damage the competitiveness of the European commercial vehicle sector, Kasper Peters, a spokesman for the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, told Bloomberg Environment June 12.
Peters referred to previous comments from the association, in which it said it accepts a carbon standard for trucks but has reservations about how quickly emissions can be reduced and about how a single standard can apply to trucks when truck specifications vary widely.
Daimler and Renault didn’t respond to requests for comment June 12, while Volvo Group spokesman Joakim Kenndal told Bloomberg Environment it was too early to comment on the upcoming truck emissions rule.
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“Scania agrees on the importance to reduce the CO2 emissions by legislative measures,” but “the proposed targets are ambitious, and will mean a shift toward electromobility since they cannot be met by conventional technology,” Hans-Ake Danielsson, a Scania spokesman, said.
The new emissions monitoring regulation “fills a serious gap” because the EU has carbon standards for cars and vans but not for trucks, Damiano Zoffoli, an Italian center-left member of the European Parliament who oversaw the truck emissions monitoring regulation, said.
The U.S. has had a carbon emissions standard for trucks since 2011. The EU monitoring regulation will mean truck emissions in the bloc are calculated and reported in a similar way to car and van emissions, Zoffoli said.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, published a draft of the follow-up regulation to the monitoring regulation May 17. The follow-up regulation would set the 2025 binding goal of reducing emissions by 15% and would also set a goal of reducing average truck carbon emissions by 30% by 2030 compared to 2019. That goal would be subject to review in 2022, however.
While the June 12 European Parliament vote finalizes the monitoring regulation, lawmakers have yet to start work on the draft standard-setting regulation, which would require the agreement of EU member countries and the European Parliament before it can be adopted.
The new standard would apply to large trucks weighing above 7.5 metric tons. Those vehicles produce 40% of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by road transport in the EU, Zoffoli said.
