EURACTIV — 2023-08-09
News from Brussels
Since July 2021, EU transport policy has been dominated by the “Fit for 55” package, the European Commission’s roadmap to ensure the bloc reduces emissions by 55% by 2030, but what is in store for the rest of the year?
The legislative package is now in its final stages, with provisional agreements reached between the European Parliament and Council on all transport files. But with the European elections scheduled for June 2024, a few matters remain outstanding in EU transport policy.
Euro 7
Under legislation agreed this year, new cars and vans sold after 2035 must be carbon-free, spelling the end of petrol and diesel passenger vehicles.
Before that date arrives, the Commission wants to tighten the accepted levels of pollution emitted from new cars sold from 2025 and heavy-duty vehicles sold from 2027.
Unlike the CO2 emissions legislation, Euro 7 focuses on pollutants that are harmful to health, such as particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, and carbon monoxide.
The legislation has proven controversial, branded too weak for green campaigners and too costly and sudden for the car industry.
In the Council of the EU, a coalition of countries has banded together to try to water down the new rules (if not scrap them outright), arguing they will put an unacceptable financial strain on the industry for minimal return.
Given this, the path forward for Euro 7 is unclear: the Spanish Presidency will need all its diplomatic skills to find a position that most nations can agree on.
A coalition of eight countries, led by Czechia, has come together to voice criticism against the proposed Euro 7 car emission standards.
Over in the Parliament, Alexandr Vondra, the file’s chief negotiator and a member of the nationalist ECR group, has been quick to criticise the draft legislation.
“The proposed Euro 7 standard will harm consumers and the manufacturers. Its impacts are disproportionate to its positive environmental effects,” he said.
His critical position is strongly backed by Jens Gieseke, a centre-right lawmaker with the EPP group.
However, other lawmakers are fighting for a stronger Euro 7.
Christel Schaldemose of the centre-left S&D group and Bas Eickhout of the Greens have called for greater ambition, lambasting the right for going against legislation they say is vital to improving air quality in cities.
As a result of the division, the centrist Renew group finds itself in an important position – whether it aligns with the right or left will strongly impact the fate of the file.
The European Commission’s ‘Euro 7’ proposal on vehicle pollution standards came under fire again on Tuesday (27 June, 2023), with the file’s lead EU lawmaker slamming it as harmful to consumers and automakers and arguing that substantial changes are needed.
CO2 standards for heavy-duty vehicles
Another legislative file still on the agenda is the CO2 standards for heavy-duty vehicles such as lorries and buses, the ‘sister’ legislation to the controversial CO2 car standards.
Many vehicle manufacturers breathed a sigh of relief when it was announced that the Commission’s heavy-duty vehicle CO2 standards proposal would not include a 100% carbon reduction mandate, as it had been the case for cars and vans.
The proposed 90% target by 2040 means that the industry can continue producing standard combustion engine trucks and buses, albeit in a reduced quantity.
With the proposal, the EU executive wants to stimulate the uptake of battery and hydrogen-powered vehicles. The regulation also includes stricter standards for city buses, mandating a switch to zero-emission technology by 2030.
That the Commission did not call a halt to the combustion engine was welcomed by German MEP Jens Gieseke, who said it was evidence that the Commission “is finally backing down from its banning ideology”.
However, the file’s rapporteur, Yannick Jadot of the Greens, wants to instate a 100% limit from 2040, arguing it is not only environmentally important but necessary for the EU industry to remain competitive.
In the Council, familiar fault lines have opened between countries pushing for greater ambition and those who want the proposal to be “more realistic”.
Countries, including Denmark and the Netherlands, want to see a 100% target no later than 2040.
But others, including Czechia, Poland, and Italy, argue the standards already go too far too fast.
EU member states gave their initial thoughts on the European Commission’s proposal to slash CO2 emissions from trucks and buses on Tuesday (20 June, 2023), with familiar fault lines opening between countries pushing for greater ambition and those who want the proposal to be “more realistic”.
Making freight greener
In mid-July 2023, shortly before legislators left for their summer break, the Commission tabled the “Greening Freight Transport Package”.
The package contains several files and aims to shift cargo from road to rail and waterways, incentivise the purchase of low-emission lorries, and make it easier and more accurate to calculate the carbon footprint of freight journeys.
At present, Parliamentary groups and EU nations have yet to formulate their positions as they are still studying the package.
However, the industry has already identified areas where they would like to see change, sending out a series of talking points.
CER, a major European rail trade association, expressed “grave concern” at the Commission’s move to allow longer and heavier trucks on EU roads, warning this “runs the risk of reverse modal shift” from rail to road freight.
The IRU, a trade association representing freight operators, meanwhile praised the Commission for making carbon footprint disclosure voluntary for companies.
Expect the political debate on the freight files to sharpen once legislators return from holidays.
The European Commission unveiled a package of laws on Tuesday (11 July, 2023) aimed at slashing the carbon footprint of the freight sector, cutting red tape in the transport of goods across borders, and cracking down on greenwashing.
US Inflation Reduction Act
The subsidies granted by the US under its “Inflation Reduction Act” have caused a stir across many EU industries, particularly over its provisions that favour domestic production. Regarding electric vehicles, however, the EU still hopes to get a better deal for its car and battery makers.
On 20 July 2023, EU states greenlighted negotiations for an “EU-US Critical Minerals Agreement”, which “should enable relevant critical minerals extracted or processed in the EU to count towards meeting the requirements” of the US tax credit scheme for electric vehicles, according to the negotiation mandate.
The Commission “aims to conclude them as soon as possible”, a spokesperson told EURACTIV. However, carmakers say that this solves only half the problem, as the final assembly of cars still needs to happen in America for consumers to get the tax rebate.
“Such an agreement would only address one issue, the tax credit for the critical minerals”, a spokesperson of the German car industry association VDA told EURACTIV. “The other conditions – in particular, the assembly of the vehicle in North America and not exceeding the envisaged price thresholds – must still be fulfilled irrespective of a possible EU-US raw materials agreement which would not be able to remedy these points,” the spokesperson added.
With the 2024 European elections and the reorganisation of European Commission jobs looming, Brussels must hurry to conclude crucial negotiations on sustainable and diversified EU trade by the end of 2023.
Recyclability of cars
The EU executive tabled the end-of-life vehicles regulation on 13 July, presenting new rules on how cars should be handled once they’ve reached the end of their motoring days.
The proposal aims to make vehicle recycling easier by setting new design rules and pushing for greater recovery and reuse of valuable materials.
“Our new proposal will support the automotive industrial ecosystem’s transition to circularity, boost the recycling industry while creating more than 22,000 jobs and improve the functioning of the single market,” said Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the internal market.
The file will now go to the Parliament and Council for scrutiny.
The European Commission wants to make vehicles easier to recycle, proposing new design rules to make it simpler to recover valuable materials, and pushing for a greater use of recycled content in the production of new cars.
Yet to come
One much-discussed regulation that is still to be tabled this year is the Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS) initiative, a law that will make it easier to book long-distance rail journeys across the EU, as well as make it simpler to combine transport modes.
MDMS has already evoked strong reactions, with air and rail companies clashing with third-party ticket vendors over providing travel data. The file is expected to be unveiled in September 2023, though, as always, this is subject to change.
As the EU prepares to table legislation to make it simpler to book long-distance journeys across the bloc, a fierce debate has broken out between rail companies and independent booking platforms over the provision of data.
The Greening Corporate Fleets initiative, which will push companies to switch to clean vehicles, is also scheduled to be released before we say goodbye to 2023.
Sadly, legislation to regulate Hyperloop – the much-vaunted technology that promises to whisk people through vacuum-sealed tubes at incredible speeds – has been postponed. This is possibly because no examples of the transport mode yet exist.