Briefing

Why adding fuel credits to vehicle standards is a bad idea

November 4, 2020

T&E rebuttal of the German study by FlickGocke Schaumburg & Frontier Economics Crediting system for renewable fuels in the EU emission standards for road transport.

Download the briefing

Adding credits for advanced and synthetic fuels into the EU vehicle CO₂ standards has been suggested by the oil and gas industry for a number of years now. With the review of the standards expected in mid-2021, the push has intensified, including a new study commissioned by the German economic ministry. This short paper highlights the shortcomings of the study, showing this to be a futile, costly and ineffective regulatory approach.

Related Articles

‘Carspreading’ to wipe out up to 14% of on-street parking in European cities – study

A new study analyses the relentless growth of newly sold cars across all key dimensions.

Children make their way to school surrounded by SUVs in London, England.

This photograph is part of a new collection of images highlighting the impact of 'carspreading' on the school run taken by photographer Crispin Huges for Clean Cities.

Carspreading is taking over our cities. Cars are getting bigger — about 1cm wider every two years. The thing is, our streets aren’t. More than half of new cars in Europe are too wide for urban parking spaces, leaving our cities crowded and congested. And carspreading is damaging our planet too - petrol and diesel SUVs burn around 20% more fuel, and electric SUVs require more resources and critical battery minerals.

Clean Cities is Europe’s largest network of organisations dedicated to active, shared and electric urban mobility.

Ever-bigger? Car size at a crossroads

The impacts on safety, space and resource use if carspreading continues to go unchecked.

Electric resilience: How Ukraine became a rising star in EV mobility

This briefing analyses the uptake of BEVs, charging infrastructure roll-out, and compliance with AFIR targets in Ukraine.