With these initiatives, the European Commission aims to streamline the decarbonisation process road transport in line with the EU Green Deal and the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy.
ECTRI welcomes the opportunity to contribute to these calls and underlines the following 8 key points to reduce road transport CO2 emissions and strengthen information provided to car buyers:
For CO2 emission standards for cars and vans
- Address aspects hindering the potential of the Regulation like legal loopholes, the increase in PHEVs (whose CO2 reduction contribution is overestimated), and manufacturer’s marketing strategies focusing on high-emitting vehicles
- Ensure policy coherence by aligning CO2 standards with related EU legislation (e.g. the Clean Vehicles Directive, Emission Commitments, and full-electric mobility targets)
- Reduce excessive flexibilities by phasing down Article 11 on credits on eco-innovations (hampering sales zero-emission vehicles), eliminating incentives on low-emission vehicles, and addressing the role of renewable fuels separately to avoid undermining zero-emission targets
- Exploit the EU research community to conduct ex-ante and ex-post structured evaluation of current legislative flexibilities
- Boost demand for zero-emission vehicles with strong regulatory framework and the development of attractive, affordable, and widely accessible zero-emission options
For EU rules on car labelling
- Include key indicators like life cycle GHG emissions, energy use, electric range (EVs), and dual-mode data for PHEVs
- Provide additional information for consumers on total cost of ownership, including energy and CO2 costs and expected salvage value
- Improve digital access, with user-friendly tools to compare vehicles by total cost of ownership, CO2 impact, and resale value
Read the full reply on CO2 emission standards for cars and vans here
Read the full reply on car labelling here
ECTRI input to the related EC open consultation here
Thanks to the ECTRI Task Force on EU Policy for contributing to this paper.