Non-paper: Transition to zero-emission light-duty vehicles
By AT, BE, DK, EL, IE, LT, LU, MT and NL
Mobility is essential and brings many benefits. However, the transport sector accounts for around one
quarter of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions,
and emissions are increasing over time. In addition, the
sector is one of the main causes of air pollution in our cities.
Reaching the EU’s
target of becoming climate
neutral by 2050 and the first step of at least 55 percent greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2030 will
require a swift transition of the transport sector. As the Commission has stated in its ‘Sustainable and Smart
Mobility Strategy’, the success of the European Green Deal depends on our ability to make the transport
sector sustainable. Reducing the emissions from road transport will be key in this regard, as they alone
account for approximately 70 percent of the total EU transport greenhouse gas emissions, with light-duty
vehicles playing a vital role.
Car manufacturers are increasingly directing investments into the development and production of zero- and
low emission vehicles, but the transition needs to be accelerated. In order for us to deliver on our short and
long-term climate ambitions and ensure a shift towards a sustainable transport sector, we must speed up the
transition of road transport by committing to zero-emission mobility and give clear signals to manufacturers,
fleet owners and consumers. Thus, an important task for us as legislators is to incentivise manufacturers to
make zero-emissions vehicles available to the market.
The ‘Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy’ does include many forward-looking
and productive initiatives
but unfortunately, a concrete plan with proposals for policy initiatives and incentives for the transition to zero-
emission vehicles remains to be seen. We welcome the Commission’s
intention
to urgently assess what is
required in practice for the transport sector to contribute to achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Towards this
purpose, we
–
the signing Member States
–
count on an ambitious and cost-effective enabling framework
with coherent policies and regulation needed to support an accelerated and balanced shift towards zero-
emission vehicles as well as predictability for the industry, including:
1) A phase-out date for the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans in the EU in line with
the objective of climate neutrality by 2050
–
To facilitate the necessary and timely transition
towards zero-emission mobility, the Commission is encouraged to present an assessment and a
specific proposal for a phase-out date or target year and how this can be achieved via EU
legislation and measures. Furthermore, the EU regulation should support a gradual phase-out of
the most emitting new cars and vans.
2) Ensuring that the EU legislation facilitates the green transition
–
both at EU level and for
individual Member States.
We need a transparent legal framework at EU level that allows
Member States to move ahead by taking action at national level to incentivise early phase-out of
new petrol and diesel cars and vans.
3) Ambitious and cost-effective policies and regulation at EU level to drive emissions
reductions in road transport
–
In this regard, the regulation setting CO
2
emission performance
standards for new passenger cars and for new light commercial vehicles (Regulation (EU)
2019/631) plays a vital role to support an EU-wide phase-out of petrol and diesel cars and vans.
The current CO
2
emissions standards must be strengthened significantly to accelerate the
transition towards zero-emission road transport. In addition, the incentive mechanism should be
strengthened to provide as much incentive as possible for manufacturers to develop and produce
new zero-emission vehicles. The revised regulation should include the above-mentioned phase-
out provisions.