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EU panel backs 35% CO2 cut for new trucks by 2030

https://www.chemnet.com   Oct 19,2018 S&P Global Platts
European lawmakers have backed a target for a 35% cut in carbon dioxide emissions from new trucks by 2030 in a move dubbed as "highly alarming" by the region's automakers.

The decision by the European Parliament's environment committee on Thursday is part of EU's first-ever CO2 standards for trucks aimed at shifting transport energy away from oil, lowering carbon emissions and curbing the region's growing dependence on imported crude and products.
The target to slash emissions by 35% from 2019 levels is tougher than the cut proposed by the European Commission, which in May called for a cut of "at least 30%" in CO2 emission from trucks under draft regulations for heavy-duty vehicles.

At the time, the European Commission estimated that a 30% cut could save up to 170 million mt of oil between 2020 and 2040, equivalent to about 1.24 billion barrels of crude or 170,000 b/d over the 20 year period.

The committee also backed achieving a 20% cut by 2025, up from the EC's proposal of 15%.

The environment committee proposals would also set the 35% target as a legal requirement. Under the EC's original proposal, only the 2025 target was to be made legally-binding, while the 2030 target would be aspirational, until a review of the legislation due in 2022.

INDUSTRY REACTION
The EU wants to build a framework that encourages European truck manufacturers to develop cleaner vehicles in the coming years, maintaining a competitive edge as China pushes ahead with 200,000 electric buses already in operation.

But vehicles makers claim the targets are far too stringent given the long development cycles for heavy-duty vehicles and the lower electrification potential for large, long-haul deliveries.

Reacting to the vote, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) called the proposals "extremely stringent"and "highly alarming".

"These targets would pose major problems, as they simply do not take account of the realities and complexities of the truck market, nor the long development cycles for heavy-duty vehicles," CEA Secretary General Erik Jonnaert said in a statement.

Nearly all heavy goods vehicles in Europe currently rely on diesel, and the EU road freight transport sector consumes about 2.1 million b/d of oil, or 13% of the global total.

Trucks make up about 5% of the vehicles on EU roads but generate around a quarter of road transport emissions, making them a key target of the EU's carbon reduction efforts. Moreover, freight transport is expected to grow by 60% from 2010 to 2050.

Earlier this month European Union agreed to seek a 35% cut in car emissions by 2030.

FURTHER VOTE
The full parliament is to vote on the committee's recommended draft in the week of November 12, the parliament's chief negotiator on the file, Dutch Green member Bas Eickhout, said Thursday.

Both the parliament and the EU Council, representing the EU's 28 national governments, have to agree on a common text before the draft regulation can become law.

The latest public compromise text from the Austrian EU presidency, which is leading EU Council debates until the end of the year, sticks to the EC's proposal of 15% by 2025 and at least 30% by 2030.

The EC proposed confirming the 2030 target only after it publishes a review by the end of 2022 of what cuts could be possible, to take account of potential advances in technology for low and zero-emission heavy duty vehicles.
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