CO2 emissions of lorries, buses and coaches: provisional agreement with Parliament on new rules for monitoring and reporting

On 26 March, the Bulgarian presidency reached an provisional agreement with the European Parliament on a regulation on monitoring and reporting of CO2 emissions as well as fuel consumption of new heavy-duty vehicles. This regulation forms part of the EU’s overall efforts to reduce CO2 emissions, and is a further step towards a competitive low carbon economy.

The provisional text will be presented to EU ambassadors for approval. Once approved, the text will be submitted to the European Parliament for a vote and then to the Council for final adoption. It will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal.

The new system of monitoring and reporting will provide the basis for setting and enforcing standards on CO2 emissions and fuel consumption, and constitutes a precursor to a further legislative proposal which the Commission aims to present later this year.

For cars and vans, rules are already in place. The regulation on which we now have a provisional agreement is aimed at new lorries, buses and coaches. Emissions of heavy-duty vehicles registered in the EU will for the first time be measured and monitored in a standardised way. The regulation will allow for the creation of a central EU register where authorities and manufacturers will provide data on CO2 emissions and fuel consumption performance. In order to be transparent and to allow for easier comparison between different vehicle models this data will be made accessible to the public. The only exception being cases which are justified by the need to protect private data and to ensure fair competition.

At its meeting of 28 June 2007, the Environment Council called for a reinforced strategy to reduce CO2 emissions of road vehicles including heavy-duty vehicles. In response, the European Commission presented a proposal on 1 June 2017 to create a mandatory EU wide system for monitoring and reporting CO2 emissions and fuel consumption of new heavy-duty vehicles.

On 15 December 2017, EU ambassadors agreed on a mandate for negotiations

with the European Parliament. The Bulgarian Presidency started negotiations with the European Parliament on 27 February and reached an agreement already at the second trilogue on 26 March.

According to the European Environment Agency, greenhouse gas emissions from road transport in 2015 were 19% above 1990 levels. In 2015 road transport was responsible for almost 73 % of total greenhouse gas emissions from transport, including aviation and international shipping. Of these emissions, 44.5 % were contributed by passenger cars, while 18.8 % came from heavy-duty vehicles. However, in order to reach the 2030 climate policy framework objectives, the EU aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport to around 20% below their 2008 level by 2030.

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