EU Parliament Backs Gas-Powered Trucks
The European Parliament on November 15 backed plans for trucks to cut emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2030, and has boosted efforts to promote gas-fuelled trucks.
Euro parliamentarians backed a higher target (35%) than that proposed by the European Commission (30%) for new lorries to reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, with an intermediate target of 20% by 2025. Manufacturers would also have to ensure that zero- and low-emission vehicles (which emit at least 50% fewer emissions) represent a 20% share of the new truck sales by 2030, and 5% by 2025. Before 2020, the parliament also called for the European Commission to come up with plans for a real-world CO2 emissions test for on-road emissions.
The proposal from the parliament now requires adoption by the EU council of ministers. Talks between both institutions to reach a common position will now happen.
German natural gas lobby group, Zukunft Erdgas ('Gas Future') said the proposal strengthens the position of gas-powered trucks in future legislation. It said the parliament's vote mandates the commission to present by 2020 a methodology that takes into account the impact of the use of sustainably-produced biomethane or synthetic natural gas from the power-to-gas process on the calculation of fleet emissions.
The lobby group's CEO Timm Kehler welcomed the parliament's proposal, saying it corrected an original Commission draft that was weighted heavily in favour of electro-mobility.