How will the Italy-EU match on zero-emission cars go?
The European Council has approved the regulation on zero-emission cars: free field for electric vehicles, exemption for e-fuels but no space for biofuels. But Minister Pichetto assures that the game is not over for Italy
The Regulation on strengthening the CO2 emission performance standards of new cars, which paves the way for the electric car, was approved at the European Council of Energy Ministers held in Brussels. The member states of the European Union, by a large majority, have said yes to the text which prohibits the registration of cars with petrol or diesel engines. Only Poland voted against, while Italy, Romania and Bulgaria abstained.
THE OBJECTIVES OF THE REGULATION ON ZERO-EMISSIONS CARS
The new rules set two goals. The first is the reduction of CO2 emissions by 55% for new cars and 50% for new vans between 2030 and 2034 compared to 2021 levels. The second is the 100% reduction in CO2 emissions for both for new cars and for vans starting from 2035. Which means, in fact, the end of hydrocarbons as fuel for mobility.
The internal combustion engine may remain, provided that, according to Recital 11 of the Regulation, they are powered by fuels that are "neutral in terms of CO2 emissions". This passage is the door through which Germany has managed to pass e-fuels , synthetic fuels obtained by producing hydrogen. It seemed to be the same door through which biofuels, obtained from biomass and plants, could pass, but the Commission said a resounding no on this.
During the discussion, Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson in fact stated that the Commission will present as soon as possible an implementing regulation for the approval of vehicles powered exclusively with "renewable fuels of non-biological origin". Thus discarding biofuels. Furthermore, with a delegated act the Commission will specify how this new fuel, and only this one, will contribute to the path of reducing CO2 emissions up to 2035.
PICKETTO'S WORDS ON ABSTENTION AND BIOFUEL
During the Council meeting, Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto announced that Italy would abstain on the measure: "On the one hand, we appreciate the choice to reconsider endothermic engines beyond 2035, on the other, we consider that the forecast in the Commission's declaration of synthetic fuels alone represents an overly restrictive interpretation, which does not yet allow full implementation of the principle of technological neutrality. We will therefore work to have biofuels also considered among neutral fuels in terms of CO2 and we express an abstention vote on the merits of the final decision of this council".
THE BATTLE ON THE CAR
Therefore, the Regulation is sealed, but the execution of the same lends itself to new negotiations and discussions, which could also go on for a long time. Above all, it is the closure of the Commission with respect to Recital 11 that is perplexing. The fuels "neutral in terms of CO2" can be certain biofuels, for which, moreover, there is already an approval standard which should not be difficult to update if necessary.
MEP Marco Campomenosi , head of the Lega delegation within the Identity and Democracy political group, points out that "the issue of electric cars and fuels has been the subject of parliamentary battles here in Brussels by the centre-right, but by the government at the time in office, the one led by Mario Draghi, no help has arrived. Now, however, Commissioner Timmermans is in a hurry and is accelerating, because he knows that in 2024 there will be another Commission resulting from a different Parliament and he wants to speed up the times”.
This reading would explain the rigidity of the Commission, concerned above all with defining the package without delay, before the next European elections scheduled for spring 2024: for the times of Brussels it is tomorrow.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW
The exception represented by Recital 11, therefore, appears much more solid and favorable to the Italian position than the Commission would have us believe. Now the process to get to definitively close the speech could take a few months, during which there is time for Italy to assert its position. In any case, after the European elections of 2024, there is the intermediate stage of 2026, the year in which a new Commission will have to evaluate the progress made and possibly revise the objectives taking into account technological developments. In short, "game over when the referee blows his whistle", as the great Serbian coach Vujadin Boškov used to say.
The one on "eligible" fuels remains a minor battle. The evidence is that by law, with obligations and prohibitions, non-optimal (indeed very bad) technological choices are being established from the point of view of process efficiency, energy efficiency and costs. If the paradigm underlying everything is represented by "zero emissions", this means that tomorrow more energy and more money will be needed to move around. The performance of these mobility systems is unfortunately low, therefore more expensive in terms of energy input and therefore more burdensome for the wallet. You don't need sophisticated calculations to figure this out.
In this sense, the ship point envisaged by the legislation in 2026 represents an important hub. Above all, reality will clean up many of the ramshackle dreams projected on European citizens by the Martians of Brussels.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/automobili-emissioni-zero-italia-ue/ on Sun, 02 Apr 2023 05:37:54 +0000.