EU urged to toughen CO2 goals for trucks

The European Union needs to dramatically toughen CO2 targets for truck makers to spur a shift to zero-emission models because current goals do not provide the incentive to do so, a climate group said on Monday.

In the study “Easy Ride: Why the EU truck CO2 targets are unfit for the 2020s,” the European group Transport and Environment found improvements in aerodynamics and fuel efficiency mean truck makers can meet the EU’s 2025 CO2 targets while only having to make a few zero-emission longhaul trucks, The study also found that most truck makers have already made voluntary commitments for electric-vehicle sales that go beyond EU requirements.

“Truckmakers are clearly able to decarbonize quicker,” T&E’s acting freight director Lucien Mathieu said in a statement. “It’s time to make them.” Under EU rules, truck makers have a voluntary target for zero-emission vehicles to make up 2 percent of sales from 2025 on. The EU is expected to revise that target.

Based on truck manufacturers’ voluntary commitments, T&E estimates zero-emission trucks will make up 7 percent of sales in 2025 and 43 percent in 2030. T&E said that shows the EU can set a realistic “but more ambitious” target that at least 30 percent of sales should be zero-emission trucks by 2028.

Swedish truck maker Scania, part of Volkswagen AG’s commercial-vehicle arm Traton SE, is a leader with CO2 emissions 5.3 percent below the average for the most common long-haul truck. Renault and Iveco, T&E said, the truck and bus business of ItalianAmerican CNH Industrial, have emissions 2.6 percent and 2.4 percent above average.