The new standards will spur innovation and support the introduction of clean mobility solutions

Low and zero emission vehicles will at first be incentivised through a credit mechanism, however this will be replaced by a mandatory sales benchmark from 2025 on. Manufacturers who sell more than 2% electric/hydrogen vehicles will be rewarded less stringent emission targets.

In a recent briefing on the issue, IndustriAll Europe backed targets which were amibitious but did not put jobs at risk.

Responding to the outcome of inter-institional negotiations, IndustriAll Europe general secretary Luc Triangle said:

“IndustrriAll Europe fully supports ambituous targets for trucks as they represent a large untapped potential for further emissions reductions in the transport sector. Indeed, trucks represent 22% of total vehicle emissons and 6% of total CO2 emissions. The new standards will spur innovation and support the introduction of clean mobility solutions.

“At the same time, the new standards are extremely challenging as are the penalties for not achieving them. We can only hope that they do not endanger the viability of companies and the jobs they provide. We are entering unchartered territory here as these are the first ever emission standards in this sector with many technological unknows. Even the baseline for the calculation of the targets is not known yet.

"On top of this comes the total lack of public charging or refuelling infrastructure for electric or hydrogen trucks, so why should transport operators buy them? Therefore we welcome the review of the regulation which is scheduled for 2022 in order to take stock of progress achieved."

Click here to read more about the development of the policy.