Reducing CO2 emissions from heavy-duty vehicles

Heavy-duty vehicles

Lorries, buses and coaches are responsible for about a quarter of CO₂ emissions from road transport in the EU and for some 6% of total EU emissions.

Despite some improvements in fuel consumption efficiency in recent years, these emissions are still rising, mainly due to increasing road freight traffic.

The first-ever EU-wide CO₂ emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, adopted in 2019, set targets for reducing the average emissions from new lorries for 2025 and 2030.

The Regulation (EU) 2019/1242 setting CO₂ emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles entered into force on 14 August 2019.

The Regulation also includes a mechanism to incentivise the uptake of zero- and low-emission vehicles, in a technology-neutral way.

Benefits

The Regulation will:

• contribute to the achievement of the EU's commitments under the Paris Agreement ,
• reduce fuel consumption costs for transport operators – mostly Small and Medium Enterprises – and consumers,
• help maintain the technological leadership of EU manufacturers and suppliers.

Expected benefits include:

• Around 54 million tonnes of CO₂ reduced in the period 2020 to 2030
• Savings at the pump amounting to around €25 000 in the first 5 years of use for a new lorry bought in 2025 and up to about €55 000 in the first 5 years of use for a new lorry bought in 2030
• Oil savings of up to 170 million tonnes of oil over the period 2020 to 2040 
• GDP increases resulting in the creation of jobs

Target levels

From 2025 on, manufacturers will have to meet the targets set for the fleet-wide average CO₂ emissions of their new lorries registered in a given calendar year. Stricter targets will start applying from 2030 on.

The targets are expressed as a percentage reduction of emissions compared to EU average in the reference period (1 July 2019–30 June 2020):

• from 2025 onwards: 15% reduction
• from 2030 onwards: 30% reduction

The 2025 target can be achieved using technologies that are already available on the market. The 2030 target will be assessed in 2022 as part of the review of the Regulation.

As a first step, the CO₂ emission standards will cover large lorries, which account for 65% to 70% of all CO₂ emissions from heavy-duty vehicles.

As part of the 2022 review, the Commission should assess the extension of the scope to other vehicle types such as smaller lorries, buses, coaches and trailers.

Incentive mechanism for zero- and low-emission vehicles (ZLEV)

The Regulation includes an incentive mechanism for

• zero-emission vehicles (ZEV), lorries with no tailpipe CO₂ emissions
• low-emission vehicles (LEV), lorries with a technically permissible maximum laden mass of more than 16t, with CO₂ emissions of less than half of the average CO₂ emissions of all vehicles in its group registered in the 2019 reporting period.

To incentivise the uptake of ZLEV and reward early action, a super-credits system applies from 2019 until 2024, and can be used to comply with the target in 2025. A multiplier of 2 applies for ZEV, and a multiplier between 1 and 2 applies for LEV, depending on their CO₂ emissions. An overall cap of 3% is set to preserve the environmental integrity of the system.

From 2025 onwards, the super-credits system is replaced by a benchmark-based crediting system, with a benchmark set at 2%. The 2030 benchmark level will have to be set in the context of the 2022 review.

As a result, the average specific CO₂ emissions of a manufacturer are adjusted downwards if the share of ZLEV in its entire new heavy-duty vehicles fleet exceeds the 2% benchmark, out of which at least 0.75 percentage points have to be vehicles subject to the CO₂ targets, i.e. the largest vehicles. Each percentage point of exceedance of the benchmark will decrease the manufacturer’s average specific CO₂ emissions by one percent.

In both systems, ZEV not subject to the CO₂ targets are accounted in the incentive mechanism. Buses and coaches are excluded from the scheme. The ZEV not subject to the CO₂ targets can contribute to a maximum of 1.5% CO₂ emissions reduction.

Cost-effective achievement of targets

The Regulation includes several elements to support cost-effective implementation:

• Banking and borrowing to take account of long production cycles, including a reward for early action, while maintaining the environmental integrity of the targets.
• Full flexibility for manufacturers to balance emissions between the different groups of vehicles within their portfolio.
• Vocational vehicles , such as garbage trucks and construction vehicles, are exempted due to their limited potential for cost-efficient CO₂ reduction.

Governance

The following measures will ensure the effectiveness and enforcement of the targets. They are based on the experience from cars and vans :

• Assess the robustness and representativeness of the reference CO₂ emissions as a basis for calculating the EU fleet-wide emissions targets.
• Collect, publish and monitor real-world fuel consumption data reported by manufacturers, based on mandatory standardised fuel consumption meters
• Introduce in-service conformity tests and mandate the reporting of deviations and the introduction of a correction mechanism
• Apply financial penalties in case of non-compliance with the CO₂ targets. The level of the penalties is set to 4,250 euro per gCO₂/tkm in 2025 and 6,800 euro per gCO₂/tkm in 2030.

Review

The Commission shall review the effectiveness of the Regulation and report on this to the European Parliament and the Council by 2022.

This review shall cover i.a.

• 2030 target and possible targets for 2035 and 2040;
• inclusion of other types of heavy-duty vehicles, including buses, coaches, trailers, vocational vehicles and considerations of EMS (European modular system);
• ZLEV incentive mechanism;
• real world representativeness of the CO₂ emission and energy consumption values;
• role of synthetic and advanced alternative fuels produced with renewable energy;
• possible introduction of a form of pooling;
• level of the excess emission premium.

By 2023, the Commission shall evaluate the possibility of developing a common methodology for the assessment and reporting of the full life-cycle CO₂ emissions of heavy-duty vehicles.

Monitoring and reporting of CO₂ emissions from heavy-duty vehicles

The following measures enable the implementation of the emission standards:

• Certification Regulation on the determination of the CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption of new lorries
• Regulation (EU) 2018/956 on monitoring and reporting

The monitoring and reporting Regulation requires that, as of 1 January 2019:

• Member States monitor and report to the Commission information on the heavy-duty vehicles registered for the first time in the Union; and
• lorry manufacturers monitor and report to the Commission CO₂ emission and fuel consumption data as determined pursuant to the certification Regulation for each new vehicle produced for the EU market. This information will be calculated using the Vehicle Energy Consumption Calculation Tool (VECTO).

The collected data on CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption together with other relevant technical information on the vehicles, including the aerodynamic drag, will be made publicly available by the European Environment Agency on behalf of the Commission, starting in 2021 to cover data monitored between 1 January 2019 and 30 June 2020.

The new system will complement the existing EU reporting system for cars and vans.

Vehicle Energy Consumption Calculation Tool (VECTO)

VECTO is a simulation software that can be used cost-efficiently and reliably to measure the CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption of heavy-duty vehicles for specific loads, fuels and mission profiles (e.g. long haul, regional delivery, urban delivery, etc.), based on input data from relevant vehicle components.

The tool has been developed by the Commission in close cooperation with stakeholders.

More information on VECTO

Related policy measures

This legislation complements other policy measures such as the Certification Regulation, Monitoring and Reporting Regulation, EU type-approval system, Eurovignette Directive, Fuel Quality Directive, Clean Vehicles Directive, Directive on maximum authorised weights and dimensions and Directive on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure.

• CO₂ emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles – a slideshow

CO2 emission targets for new heavy-duty vehicles

• 25/07/2019 - Regulation (EU) 2019/1242 - setting CO2 emission performance standards for new heavy-duty vehicles
• 03/07/2018 - COM/2018/284 - Proposal for a regulation setting CO2 emission performance standards for new heavy-duty vehicles (main text + annexes)
• 17/05/2018 - SWD/2018/185 - Impact assessment (main text + annexes)
  • SWD/2018/186 - Executive summary of the impact assessment
• 17/05/2018 - Q&A on proposal for CO2 emission standards for heavy duty vehicles
• 17/05/2018 - Europe on the Move III: Europe on the Move: Commission completes its agenda for safe, clean and connected mobility
• 17/05/2018 - Europe on the Move III: Questions & Answers on the Commission's initiatives
• 17/05/2018 - Factsheet: Shaping the future of Mobility
• 17/05/2018 - Factsheet: Clean Mobility – Implementing the Paris Agreement
• 17/05/2018 - All documents on Europe on the Move III

Monitoring and reporting of CO2 emissions from new heavy-duty vehicles

• 28/06/2018 – Regulation 2018/956 - Monitoring and reporting of CO2 emissions from and fuel consumption of new heavy-duty vehicles
• 12/12/2017 – Regulation 2017/2400 - Determination of the CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption of heavy-duty vehicles
• 31/05/2017 - COM/2017/0279 - Proposal on the monitoring and reporting of CO₂ emissions from and fuel consumption of new heavy-duty vehicles

IMPLEMENTATION

• 13/03/2019 - Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/956 - amending Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2018/956 as regards the data on new heavy-duty vehicles to be monitored and reported by Member States and by manufacturers
• Guidance documents and reporting formats

Commission strategy for reducing CO2 emissions from heavy-duty vehicles

• 21/05/2014 - COM (2014) 285 - Communication: Strategy for reducing Heavy-Duty Vehicles' fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions
• 21/05/2014 - SWD (2014) 160 - Impact Assessment accompanying the document Strategy for Reducing Heavy-Duty Vehicles Fuel Consumption and CO₂ Emissions
  • SWD (2014) 159 - Executive summary
• 21/05/2014 - IP/2014/576 - Climate action: Commission sets out strategy to curb CO₂ emissions from trucks, buses and coaches
• 21/05/2014 - MEMO/2014/366 - Questions and Answers on the Commission strategy for reducing Heavy-Duty Vehicles' (HDVs) fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions

Studies addressing CO₂ emissions from Heavy-Duty Vehicles

• 29/11/2019 - Final report: Further Development of VECTO
• 21/11/2019 - Final report: Bodies and trailers – development of CO2 emissions determination procedure
• 10/2019 - Preparation for collection and monitoring of real-world fuel consumption data for light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles
• 09/2018 - Support for preparation of the impact assessment for CO2 emissions standards for Heavy Duty Vehicles
• 08/2017 - Analysis of fuel economy and GHG emission reduction measures from Heavy Duty Vehicles in other countries and of options for the EU
• 12/2017 - LOT 4 report: "VECTO tool development: Completion of methodology to simulate Heavy Duty Vehicles' fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Upgrades to the existing version of VECTO and completion of certification methodology to be incorporated into a Commission legislative proposal"
• 12/2017 - Final report: "Feasibility assessment regarding the development of VECTO for hybrid heavy-duty vehicles"
• 03/2016 - Monitoring heavy-duty vehicles’ CO₂ emissions and their costs: An assessment
• 27/03/2015 - Light weighting as a means of improving Heavy Duty Vehicles’ energy efficiency and overall CO₂ emissions
• 26/01/2015 - Final report: Cost-benefit analysis of options for certification, validation, monitoring and reporting of heavy-duty vehicle fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions
• 08/01/2015 - Data gathering and analysis to improve understanding of the fleet, market and CO₂ emissions of N2 and M2 category of vehicles
• 08/09/2014 - Cost-benefit analysis of options for certification, validation, monitoring and reporting of heavy-duty vehicle fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions (Interim report)
• 15/05/2014 - Development and validation of a methodology for monitoring and certification of greenhouse gas emissions from heavy duty vehicles through vehicle simulation
  • Draft certification methodology
  • Technical annex
• 03/02/2014 - Development of a CO₂ certification and monitoring methodology for HDV - Proof of concept report
• 29/07/2013 - Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) as a means to reduce Light- Commercial and Heavy-Duty Vehicles fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions
• 18/09/2012 - Final report on HDV CO₂ emission abatement cost curves
• 09/01/2012 - Reduction and Testing of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Heavy-Duty Vehicles - Lot 2: Development and testing of a certification procedure for CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption of HDV
• 23/12/2011 - European Union Greenhouse Gas Reduction Potential for Heavy-Duty Vehicles
• 22/02/2011 - Reduction and Testing of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Lot 1: Strategy
• 03/2008 - Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Heavy-Duty Vehicles