The Commission’s latest green folly: -90% of CO2 emissions from road transport by 2040
The European Commission on Tuesday proposed tougher CO2 rules for heavy-duty vehicles, requiring all new trucks to cut emissions by 90% by 2040 and all new city buses to be zero emissions starting in just 7 years , by 2030, according to a statement from the European Commission.
The EU's goal is not only to help the Union get closer to the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but also to reduce imports of fossil fuels. There is already an agreement that new passenger cars will be CO2-free by 2035, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
"The road transport sector accounts for a fifth of EU greenhouse gas emissions and is the main cause of air pollution in cities," said the Commission, adding that the transport sector is the only one in the EU in whose emissions have continued to increase in recent years. Heavy-duty trucks and buses are responsible for more than 25% of EU road transport greenhouse gas emissions and 6% of total EU greenhouse gas emissions.
The Commission has suggested that manufacturers will need to reduce the typical CO2 emissions of new trucks they sell by 90% below 2019 levels by 2040. They should also reduce CO2 emissions by 65% from 2035.
The EU has opted for a 90% target instead of 100% for the time being because, according to EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans, zero-emission technologies are not yet available for all trucks and it is unknown when they are. Indeed, it is not even known when there will be a real, cost-effective technology for zero-emission mass transport, but that does not matter to the Commission and its maximalism.
The ultimate goal is still a 100% reduction in CO2 emissions for cars and trucks, but the EU hasn't commented on when the target might be moved.
Environmentalists who hoped to get more are unhappy that the bloc has decided to give up the last 10%. "Polluting trucks will continue to be sold for years longer than necessary, making the EU's zero target impossible," said a freight manager at Transport & Environment group, quoted by Reuters, in response to Tuesday's announcement of the 'EU. Obviously you could aim directly at 110%, just to do something more and be "more ambitious".
With this decision, the EU risks going back to the Middle Ages, with the fragmentation of the markets due to lack of logistics. But it will be a green Middle Ages…
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The article The Commission's latest green madness: -90% of CO2 emissions from road transport by 2040 comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/ultima-follia-green-della-commissione-90-delle-emissioni-co2-dai-trasporti-su-strada-entro-il-2040/ on Wed, 15 Feb 2023 09:10:47 +0000.