Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of clean road transport vehicles (COM(2005) 634 final — 2005/0283 (COD))
Date: 2006-05-17
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: environmental protection, motor vehicle, road transport

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Official Journal of the European Union

18.8.2006

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Directive of the
European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of clean road transport vehicles

(COM(2005) 634 final — 2005/0283 (COD))

(2006/C 195/07)

In a letter of 1 March 2006, the Council asked the European Economic and Social Committee to draw up,
in accordance with Article 175(1) of the EC Treaty, an opinion on the abovementioned proposal.

The Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society, which was responsible for
preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 2 May 2006. The rapporteur was
Mr Ranocchiari.

At its 427th plenary session, held on 17-18 May 2006 (meeting of 17 May), the European Economic and
Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 137 votes to one with four abstentions.

1. Conclusions and recommendations

1.1 More than 75 % of the population of the European
Union lives in urban areas. Urban transport therefore repre-
sents a very high percentage of the transport sector as a whole,
influencing the parameters of air quality (carbon monoxide,
hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, particulates, ozone precursors)
and hence local pollution, as well as climate change (CO2 emis-
sions).

1.2
There have been a succession of legislative and research
measures in recent years, both in a European context and in
that of international cooperation. The main aims pursued have
been to improve energy efficiency and to reduce pollutant
emissions as well as dependence on oil.

Thanks to the standards regulating vehicle emissions,
1.3
known as ‘Euro’ standards, pollutant emissions due to vehicle
traffic have been drastically reduced over the last 25 years.

1.4 Moreover, thanks to models such as CAFE (Clean Air for
Europe, 2005), it has been possible to estimate a further reduc-
tion of 5 % in pollution levels for 2020.

The directive under consideration seeks to promote a
1.5
sustainable urban environment: the proposal provides for a
fleet of ‘clean’ heavy duty vehicles, which, as well as saving
energy, would emit a smaller quantity of pollutants.

In particular, the proposal

1.6
includes an obligation on
public bodies to allocate a 25 % quota of their annual procure-
ments of heavy duty vehicles above 3.5 t weight to clean vehi-
cles. The Commission proposal also allows for the possibility of
a later extension of this requirement to the other categories of
vehicle acquired by public bodies.

Alongside an initial

1.7
investment by the public bodies,
timely implementation of this directive would encourage rapid
development and wide distribution of clean technologies.

1.8
The directive, if approved, would offer the many local
authorities who find themselves forced to impose restrictions
on the free movement of vehicles an alternative solution
capable of achieving positive results in terms of environmental,
social and economic impact.

1.9
Cities such as Paris, Montpellier, Frankfurt, Helsinki and
others, which have invested in a fleet of clean vehicles (buses
or refuse collection lorries powered by natural gas), have
achieved good results and are going on to acquire more vehi-
cles to enlarge the available fleet.

1.10
Shortening the timescale for action, diversifying efforts
and acting at various levels to reduce the overall environmental
(Euro standards on control of vehicle emissions,
impact
measures aimed at improving energy efficiency and at security
as regards energy supply and diversifying energy sources) must
lead to social benefits and technological and economic
progress.

1.11
The EESC therefore hopes that the directive can be
adopted in 2006, complementing the other measures already
taken by the European Community and new measures which
are in the process of being approved.

2. Reasons and legal context

2.1
On 21 December 2005 the Commission presented this
proposal for a directive on the promotion of clean road trans-
port vehicles (1)
(legal basis: Article 175(1) TEC; codecision
procedure).

2.2

The main objectives of the directive are:

— to reduce pollutant emissions produced by the transport

sector;

— to encourage the market

in clean vehicles, particularly

heavy duty vehicles weighing more than 3.5 t.

2.3
The directive lays down that public bodies are required
to allocate a minimum quota of their annual procurements of
heavy duty vehicles (above 3.5 t)
to vehicles meeting the
‘enhanced environmentally friendly vehicle’ performance stand-
ard. The minimum quota laid down is 25 % and concerns the
replacement of heavy duty vehicles to allow the gradual intro-
duction of environmental criteria in the procurement procedure
and prepare public bodies and industry for a possible extension
of these requirements to other categories of vehicle.

(1) COM(2005) 634 final.

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2.4
In the long term, the directive will lead to an improve-
ment in the environmental performance of the entire fleet
through economies of scale, a reduction in costs and wider
deployment of enhanced environmentally friendly vehicle tech-
nologies.

3. Definitions and explanations

The heavy duty vehicles covered by the directive are
3.1
vehicles weighing more than 3.5 t, such as buses and utility
vehicles (e.g. refuse collection lorries).

The term ‘clean vehicle’ signifies ‘enhanced environ-
3.2
ment-friendly vehicle’ as defined in the EEV (Enhanced environ-
standard (2),
ment-friendly
vehicle) European performance
which lays down strict limits on CO2 emissions and on harmful
emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons,
particulate pollutants and ozone precursors:

CO
(g/kWh)

HC
(g/kWh)

NOx
(g/kWh)

PT
(g/kWh)

Smoke
(m-1)

1.5

0.25

2.0

0.02

0.15

3.3
The Member States have always been encouraged to
introduce tax concessions for those vehicles which have stricter
limit values for emissions than those laid down in the current
Euro 4 standard (3), as an incentive to bringing cleaner, more
efficient vehicles onto the market.

3.4
The public bodies to which the directive is addressed are
the national, regional or local authorities, bodies governed by
public law, public enterprises and operators bound by contracts
with public bodies for the provision of transport services.

The obligation to allocate a minimum quota of annual
3.5
procurement to clean vehicles applies to both purchasing and
leasing of heavy duty vehicles.

Promoting the use of EEVs is also in line with the
3.6
Commission's recent proposal for a directive on car taxation (4):
the latter would in fact be partially based on CO2 emissions to
encourage the purchasing of cleaner, more energy-efficient
liquefied
vehicles, such as those using biofuels, natural gas,
petroleum gas (LPG), electrical or hybrid motors.

3.7
The increased use of biofuels for vehicles is also an
objective of the biomass action plan (5), which the Commission
recently adopted and followed up with a communication on
biofuels (6).

(2) Directive 2005/55/EC, Article 1(c) and Annex I, point 6.2.1.
(3) Directive 1998/69/EC.
(4) COM(2005) 261 final of 5.7.2005.
(5) COM(2005) 628 final of 7.12.2005.
(6) COM(2006) 34 final of 7.2.2006.

3.8
This proposal therefore forms part of a wide range of
measures designed to deal with the constant increase in green-
house gas emissions which jeopardise the Community objec-
the increase in local pollution
tives on climate change,
phenomena due to vehicle exhaust emissions which have a
negative effect on citizens' health, and the question of energy
efficiency of fuels which makes Europe still heavily dependent
on oil.

In the Green Paper on energy supply (7) questions linked
3.9
with the growth of the transport sector, high energy consump-
tion, CO2 emissions and oil dependence are analysed to identify
measures which could influence the demand for alternative
technologies and fuels and promote a generation of clean vehi-
cles; the same questions are taken up in the White Paper (8) on
European transport policy up to 2010.

3.10
In the communication on alternative fuels for road
transport (9) and the subsequent directive on the promotion of
biofuels (10) the diversification of energy sources is regarded as
an effective system for reducing dependence on oil, CO2 emis-
sions and local pollutant emissions.

The communication reviewing the EU strategy for
3.11
sustainable development (11) covers
related to
climate change. This strategy explicitly proposes the develop-
ment of a market for cleaner vehicles, within a programme of
traffic management in urban areas involving the promotion of
‘eco-innovations’ and the adoption of ‘clean’ buses.

the aspects

The Green Paper (12) on energy efficiency proposes
3.12
concrete measures, among them the use of public procurement
to develop a market for vehicles which are less polluting and
more energy-efficient than conventional vehicles.

3.13
Production and use of vehicles which comply better
with atmospheric pollutant limits represent an essential factor
in the attempt to achieve the objectives set by the relevant
European legislation (13).

3.14
In the context of the Thematic Strategy on air pollu-
tion (14), whereby the Commission intends to consolidate the
relevant current directives, the need is once more emphasised
to recommend that public bodies implement them annually by
acquiring a minimum quota of clean energy-efficient vehicles.

(7) COM(2000) 769.
(8) COM(2001) 370.
(9) COM(2001) 547: it provides for the replacing 20 % of traditional

fuels with alternative fuels by 2020.

(10) Directive 2003/30/EC.
(11) COM(2005) 37.
(12) COM(2005) 265.
(13) Directive 1996/62 on ambient air quality and derived directives:
Directive 1999/30 on limit values for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen
dioxide, particulates and lead; Directive 2000/69 on limit values
for benzene and carbon monoxide; Directive 2002/3 objectives on
ozone values.

(14) COM(2005) 446 final.

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3.15
The European Parliament has expressed its support for
a Community action plan to improve energy efficiency in the
transport
sector, particularly stressing the importance of
targeted public procurement programmes to reduce the price
of energy-efficient vehicles and make them competitive with
conventional technologies (15).

3.16
The European Council has advocated measures to inte-
grate environmental management and sustainable development
into transport policy (16).

4. General comments

This directive,

if adopted, would introduce a range of
4.1
obligatory measures on public procurement, with a view to
speeding up the increase in market demand for ‘clean’ vehicles.
At the same time, the proposal promotes the introduction of
clean energy-efficient vehicles through a technologically neutral
approach, as recommended by the Member States (17).

4.2
The procurement obligation for heavy duty vehicles
exceeding 3.5 t weight, as compared with voluntary agree-
ments or other types of regulatory measures, has advantages in
terms of the cost/benefit ratio, the economic aspects of the
competitiveness of European industry, and above all the envir-
onmental impact.

4.3
The 25 % quota of procurement corresponds to 10 % of
the whole market, a percentage which is high enough to influ-
ence the development of the market for clean vehicles and to
encourage economies of scale, thus keeping investment costs at
an acceptable level.

The number of vehicles to be covered by this proposed
4.4
directive is estimated at about 52 000, comprising 17 000
buses and 35 000 lorries.
Introducing 25 % clean vehicles
would thus correspond to 13 000 EEVs per year. The choice of
a specific replacement sector (buses, refuse collection lorries or
others) is left to the public bodies, which are entirely free to
decide the specific replacement quotas.

Brussels, 17 May 2006.

4.5
Procurement for the systematic introduction of clean
vehicles would encourage the development of the automotive
industry and guarantee the expansion of a strong market for
heavy duty vehicles in Europe, increasing its competitiveness.

4.6
Paris, Montpellier, Frankfurt and other cities already
have fleets of clean vehicles and are preparing to enlarge them
in view of
the positive environmental and socio-economic
results achieved.

4.7
The mandatory introduction of a percentage of EEVs in
the fleet of heavy duty vehicles represents a further instrument
available to public authorities to help them meet the obliga-
tions imposed by Community directives on air quality.

4.8
The replacement percentage suggested in the proposed
directive would make it possible to obtain rapid initial results
as regards improvement of air quality (18), as the EEVs meet
standards which drastically reduce HC, NOx and PM emissions.

4.9 Moreover,
to reduce fuel
the use of EEVs helps
consumption and encourage research to obtain increasingly
significant results for the environment; on the other hand,
promoting the use of alternative fuels and studying emission
treatment technologies provide a strong stimulus to the growth
of the automotive industry.

Considering that the average life of the heavy duty
4.10
vehicles covered by the proposed directive is about 15 years
and assuming that it comes into force in 2006, public bodies
would have time by 2030 to recoup the investment, make
technological progress and improve performance standards.

A substantial commitment to the speedy promotion of
4.11
clean vehicles would also have beneficial
effects:
improving air quality in urban centres means, among other
things, reducing the incidence or exacerbation of respiratory
diseases, with a resulting improvement in the public health
budget.

social

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Anne-Marie SIGMUND

(15) A5-0054/2001.
(16) Helsinki European Council

Council (2001).

(1999) and Gothenburg European

(17) In accordance with the priorities laid down by the European
Council of 22 and 23 March 2005, in the context of the Lisbon
strategy.

(18) The city of Montpellier introduced the first ‘clean’ buses powered
by natural gas in 1999. After thirty months NOx emissions had
dropped by 50 %, PT had almost entirely disappeared and noise
had been reduced by 5 to 8 decibels. (Data ADEME, Agence de l'en-
vironnement et de la maîtrise de l'énergie - Délégation régionale
Languedoc-Roussillon).