Average emissions from new trucks will need to be cut by 90% by 2040 compared to 2019, the European Parliament has decided, passing a law that will drastically reduce the number of new diesel trucks.
The European Parliament has voted in favor of a draft law that would cut average carbon emissions from new heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) by 45% from 2030, 65% from 2035 and 90% from 2040, reports Euractiv.
This will lead to an increase in the number of zero-emission vehicles, such as battery electric trucks and hydrogen trucks, while the number of diesel trucks will have to be drastically reduced. In 2023, diesel trucks still account for 96% of all new truck sales.
For city buses, the rules are even stricter and include a complete phase-out of new diesel vehicles by 2035.
The transition to zero-emission trucks and buses is not only key to achieving our climate goals, but also a crucial driver for cleaner air in our cities," said the Greens' chief negotiator Bas Eykhout.
We provide clarity for one of Europe's major manufacturing industries and a strong incentive to invest in electrification and hydrogen," he added.
The law was passed with 341 votes in favor, 268 against and 14 abstentions.
What's ahead
EU ministers still have to formally approve the draft law, on which informal negotiations ended in January, before it comes into force. This is expected to happen with a majority after the text passed an informal "trial vote" among EU ambassadors in February.
Before the tentative vote, German Transport Minister Volker Vissing threatened to withdraw his support for the regulation because it would not leave enough room for trucks running on alternative liquid fuels such as biofuels or synthetic e-fuels.
Vissing, however, changed his position after the European Commission committed to developing a new category of trucks running exclusively on climate-neutral e-fuels, which will continue to be permitted even after 2040.
"The Only Way Forward"
Environmental activists welcomed the law's passage.
The trucking industry, Europe's second largest contributor to transport CO2 emissions, is about to experience a transformative change," Felipe Rodríguez, director of heavy goods vehicles at the International Council for Clean Transport (ICCT), said in a statement. "What seemed unthinkable just a few years ago is now the unequivocal way forward," he added.