Revision of Regulation (EU) 2019/1242 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 setting CO2 emission performance standards for new heavy-duty vehicles
Date: 2022-05-13
Institutions: Directorate-General for Climate Action, European Commission
Subjects: climate change policy



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Summary report 


on the Open Public Consultation on the review of co2 emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles



1Introduction


Transport is the only sector whose greenhouse gas emissions are higher than in 1990 and where emissions are growing, including the heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) sub-sector. HDV are responsible for about a quarter of CO2 emissions from road transport in the EU and for around 6% of total EU greenhouse gas emissions.


The current EU rules on CO2 emission standard, Regulation (EU) 2019/1242, are key for reducing emissions from new HDV. As announced in the Smart and 
                  Sustainable Mobility Strategy, and in accordance with the review clause of the Regulation itself, the Commission will review this legislation by the end of 2022. The main objective of this initiative is to reduce CO2 emissions from HDV cost-effectively. It aims to contribute to the more ambitious 2030 and 2050 climate objectives, while fostering innovation in zero-emission technologies and providing benefits for citizens, consumers and transport operators. 


The objective of the public consultation run between 20 December 2021 and 14 March 2022 was to gather views on this revision to inform the impact assessment accompanying the corresponding Commission proposal. This summary report provides an overview of the 137 contributions received. 


This document should be regarded solely as a summary of the contributions made by stakeholders on this open public consultation. It cannot in any circumstances be regarded as the official position of the Commission or its services. Responses to the consultation activities cannot be considered as a representative sample of the views of the EU population.



2Overview of respondents


The breakdown of respondents by category is presented in table below.





Category




Number of respondents




Percentage of total number of respondents






Company/business organisation




64




47%






Business association




44




32%






EU citizen




12




9%






NGO (Non-governmental organisation)




9




7%






Public authority




6




4%






Other




2




1%






Total




137




100%






Contributions were received from respondents based in 14 Member States. The responses from Germany (37), Belgium (29) and Italy (15) together contributed to nearly 60% of the total number of responses. No responses were received from 13 Member States: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. In addition, responses were received from stakeholders from five other countries, including Japan (2), the UK (2) and the USA (2). 


 


3Results of the public consultation with regard to key questions


For this analysis, stakeholders were aggregated into four categories: citizens, industry (business associations, company/business organisations), public authorities and ‘others’, i.e., NGOs and organisations that classified themselves as ‘other’. Figures shown in the graphs for every category (n) may not match the total of respondents as non-respondents to the questions are not displayed.



3.1Objectives


Stakeholders were asked to rate (on a scale of 1 to 5, where ‘5’ represented the highest importance and ‘1’ indicated ‘no importance’) the importance of several objectives for the future HDV CO2 Regulation. 




An large majority of respondents, about 9 out of 10, considered the objective of reducing CO2 emissions from new HDVs in a cost-effective way to be important or very important for both 2030 (92%) and 2050 (88%) EU climate objectives.


In addition, four objectives, fostering innovation in zero-emission technologies for HDV, contributing to the reduction of air pollution and other environmental problems, strengthening technical and industrial leadership and stimulating employment in the EU value chain of HDV and reducing EU energy consumption and import dependence on fossil fuels were supported by a majority of respondents as shown below:


























Slightly less than a majority of respondents, less than 5 out of 10, considered that the remaining three objectives were important or very important, i.e., reducing the total cost of ownership of vehicles (49%), promoting the market uptake of ZEV by making them more affordable (47%) and reducing the fuel consumption costs of vehicles (45%).



3.2Future CO2 emissions targets for new HDV


3.2.1Revising existing targets:


Overall, respondents provided greater support to strengthening the targets in the longer term, i.e., new, strengthened CO2 emissions target for 2040 (and to a lesser extent for 2035) received more support than strengthening current 2030 targets and, particularly, before 2030.


On a scale from 1 to 5 where 5 is highest importance and 1 no importance the results were:


















3.2.2Setting new targets for other types of vehicles:


A large majority of respondents supported setting new targets for medium lorries, urban buses, and coaches, while still a small majority considered it important to set new targets for lorries below 7.5t. Just short of a majority was of the opinion that setting new targets for vocational vehicles was important. On a scale from 1 to 5 where 5 is highest importance and 1 no importance the respondents replied as shown below:


































3.2.3Setting targets for all new vehicles to be zero-emission: 




Most respondents considered that the CO2 standards should not oblige all new vehicles to be zero emission by a certain date. The option of setting such a obligation for urban buses received the highest support amongst the different categories of vehicles. On a scale from 1 to 5 where 5 is highest importance and 1 no importance the results were:


















3.3Incentivising zero- and low-emission HDV


Main barriers considered for the market uptake of zero-emission vehicles by the respondents are shown below (multiple answers are possible):







A majority of stakeholders expressed their support for amending the current ZLEV incentive scheme, as set out in the Regulation before 2030 (yes/no) but displaying mixed opinions on the need and type of ZLEV incentives as shown in the graphs below (on a scale from 1 to 5 where 5 is highest agreement and 1 is no agreement).




































































3.4Contribution of renewable and low carbon fuels


Stakeholders were invited to provide opinions on the convenience of a potential mechanism to consider the contribution of renewable and low-carbon fuels for the regulatory compliance assessment, its effects and the design of the mechanism itself. Views were split, as indicated in the figures below (on a scale from 1 to 5 where 5 is highest agreement and 1 is no agreement, not all statements needed to be rated).


















































3.5Other elements


Stakeholders were asked to express their opinion on other elements of the potential regulatory approach:


·Pooling: A quarter of respondents supported the option of setting provisions for pooling compared to 15% (17 out of 114 respondents) against, keeping the rest, 6 out of 10, neutral.




·Small volume manufacturers (SVM) exemption: 1 out of 3 respondents expressed their views on a possible exemption to SVM from which a majority were in favour.


·Inclusion of trailers: The large majority of non-neutral respondents agreed on the importance of setting energy efficiency standards in trailers. 


·Allocation of revenues from excess premiums: The majority of respondents supported to allocate the potential revenues to support new or existing specific fund or programme that aimed to support the just transition by reskilling, upskilling, training and reallocation of workers in the transport sector. 9 out of 10 respondents considered that new skills and qualifications for workers will be needed to adapt to a revised Regulation. 


On a scale from 1 to 5 where 5 is highest importance and 1 no importance, the results were:






























3.6Impacts


Stakeholders were asked to express their views regarding fourteen statements on the likely impacts of strengthened CO2 standards for HDV. An overwhelming majority of respondents found that New skills and qualifications for workers will be needed, while the following categories received most support from 2 out of 3 stakeholders: Innovative SMEs will benefit from new business opportunities, EU industry will increase investments in zero-emission technologies and EU import dependence on fossil fuels will decrease. 


Opinions on impacts are summarised in the graphs below on a scale from 1 to 5, where 5 is highest agreement and 1 is no agreement, not all statements needed to be rated.