Clean corporate vehicles regulation: moment of truth for the decarbonization of heavy road transport
Decarbonizing heavy road transport, which accounts for around 6% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions, is both a major climate challenge and a major economic challenge.
Economic challenge because manufacturers now have an urgent need for visibility on demand for zero-emission trucks (battery, hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen internal combustion) in order to invest in their production lines. While some lobbies are working to weaken the so-called “CO2 heavy-duty / VETCO” regulation (decarbonization standards for new vehicles placed on the market, binding on manufacturers), France Hydrogène calls on the Commission:
- not to give in, and to maintain the obligations of the “CO2 heavy-duty” regulation (which are in any case insufficient in light of the Union’s 2040 climate target). Any instability or rollback would permanently harm virtuous manufacturers who have invested in zero-emission solutions based on the regulatory framework, and would destabilize the strategic value chains forming around them (batteries, hydrogen).
- to publish a regulation on fleet greening for trucks, as the demand-side counterpart to the obligations currently placed on manufacturers, thus creating a truly predictable market for zero-emission trucks. This legislative initiative is a turning point for the decarbonization of European road freight transport and for the success of the related strategic value chains. This is the meaning of France Hydrogène’s recommendations in its consultation response: a regulation setting binding obligations on shippers, expressed as a % of tonne-kilometers carried out in zero-emission, along a trajectory consistent with the Union’s 2040 climate target.