View from Brussels - July 2021

22 July 2021

Last month I looked at the UK Government’s commitment to Net Zero. The recently published Transport Decarbonisation plans are part of this programme, but still leave unanswered questions on the detailed measures necessary to support a swifter transition by households to low emission vehicles.

Over in Brussels, the European Commission has published a dozen legislative proposals geared towards reducing net greenhouse gas emissions in the EU by at least 55% by 2030, relative to 1990 levels. The package includes an EU Emissions Trading System; more stringent emissions reduction targets in each Member State; a Renewable Energy Directive (stipulating that 40% of energy should emanate from renewable sources by 2030); an Energy Efficiency Directive (containing binding targets with the public sector required to renovate 3% of buildings every year); and specific measures on aviation and maritime.

The motor market will be interested in plans for stronger CO2 emissions standards for car and vans. These mandate that average emissions of new cars must fall by 55% from 2030 and 100% from 2035 compared to 2021 levels. It is also designed to stimulate a second-hand market for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). Embarrassingly for Mrs Van Der Leyen, the President, a number of her Commissioners spoke out against these tougher rules. It remains to be seen whether they will survive scrutiny by the Council of Ministers, which will undoubtedly represent national interests. The European Parliament is likely to be more supportive.

Alongside this, the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation will require Member States to expand the charging capacity in line with ZEV sales and to install charging and fuelling points at regular intervals on major motorways: every 60 km for electric charging and every 150 km for hydrogen refuelling. Whilst this is undoubtedly prescriptive, I suspect UK car drivers would welcome a similar commitment from the Government to encourage them to shift to greener vehicles.

Both the UK Government and European Commission’s plans are ambitious but there are still questions over how fast the technology and supporting infrastructure can be rolled out to make them a reality.

Published 22 Jul 2021

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