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    • ‘Truck CO2 monitoring won’t work without greater transparency’

    The EU’s first-ever regulation on measuring CO2 emissions from trucks must be tightened to provide greater transparency, say eight haulage companies in a letter to the Commission also signed by T&E. The letter says that without a requirement for more data on engine efficiency ‘a meaningful engine standard will not be possible’.

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    The European Commission announced last year it would be introducing measuring and reporting requirements on CO2 emissions and fuel consumption for new lorries. The first draft of a new regulation was published in May and is currently going through the EU legislative process. It is intended to prepare the ground for Europe’s first truck emissions limits – unlike with cars and vans, the EU currently has no limits on truck emissions, in marked contrast to key competitors such as the US, China, Japan and Canada.

    In a letter to the climate action and energy commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, the eight hauliers, T&E and the logistics giant Schenker France SAS welcome the proposed legislation, but say the availability of information on fuel efficiency, including aerodynamic performance, engine efficiency and rolling resistance must be greater. They also call for ‘conformity of production’ test results to be made public (these are tests to check the ability to produce a series of products to a given specification), particularly where CO2 emissions are affected.

    The letter says such transparency improvements will enable new trucks to be ranked in a best-to-worst assessment, which will help transport operators make purchasing decisions that will reduce emissions in the long term. ‘Without including engine efficiency data in this regulation, a meaningful engine standard will not be possible,’ it says.

    T&E trucks officer Stef Cornelis said: ‘Secrecy will only lead to abuse. The truck CO2 monitoring and reporting proposal is a unique opportunity to change this. The European Parliament and especially the national governments should support innovation and cleaner trucking rather than doing the bidding of domestic truckmakers.’

    Trucks represent less than 5% of all vehicles on the road in Europe but are responsible for around a quarter of road transport’s greenhouse gas emissions, a share the Commission believes will grow by 2030 unless reforms are passed.