T&E reaction to EU and Germany deal on truck CO₂ law

EU lawmakers and the German government today reached an agreement that will allow new CO₂ targets for trucks to enter law. The Commission, Parliament and Council agreed that the Commission will assess making a proposal to register heavy-duty vehicles running only on e-fuels within the next year.

Under the draft law already agreed between EU governments and the EU Parliament, truckmakers will be required to cut the average emissions of new trucks by 45% in 2030, 65% in 2035 and 90% in 2040. Following the deal between EU lawmakers and Germany, EU governments today signed off on the targets. The EU Parliament needs to give its final approval to the legislation before the end of its mandate, the last step before the regulation enters into law.

Fedor Unterlohner, freight policy manager at T&E, said: “Europe needs to move forward and give clarity to its truck manufacturing industry which is in a race with the US and China. E-fuels are an expensive and massively inefficient diversion from the transformation to electric facing truckmakers. The EU Parliament should ensure the truck CO₂ targets enter law without any further delay.”