Trucks and CO2

Commission eyes fuel efficiency rules for trucks as road transport looks set to grow

Europe lags behind the major world economies in regulating fuel efficiency standards for the fast-growing truck transport sector and the Commission is moving to address the issue with legislative proposals, a panel on the Future of Road Freight Transport was told on Monday (3 July).

Report: Europe’s automobile market grows further in Q1

Europe's automobile industry continued the positive trend of the last three years in the first quarter of 2017, with domestic sales and exports posting a healthy rise, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said in a report released on Monday (26 June).

How do you put a price on trucks’ impact on society?

Hauliers claim that trucks are overpaying in taxes and charges compared to their impact on the environment and society. But the reality is that road transport is now Europe’s biggest climate problem, writes Samuel Kenny.

Fifteen EU countries will be forced to change road toll laws under draft rules

Eight EU countries will be forced to change how they charge passenger cars that use public roads by 2023 and nine countries will need to change their systems for trucks, according to draft European Commission plans.

The end of multimodal transport?

As the EU moves into the era of "smart mobility", Dan Wolff wonders whatever happened to the idea of multimodal transport. Just because road freight innovates faster than other transport modes doesn't mean policymakers should give up on multimodality, he argues.

Twin EU road toll proposals target pollution and cross-border trucking

EU transport chief Violeta Bulc is expected to announce an overhaul of how countries charge road tolls this May - a controversial issue that has provoked bitter political fights lately and is likely to spark backlash from member states, the shipping industry and truck drivers.

Four trends that could clean up road transport

The move towards autonomous vehicles, driven by the progressive electrification of transport, and backed up by road pricing schemes, all carry the potential of radically cleaning up Europe's transport system, writes Greg Archer.

Europe urged to cut all transport emissions to keep climate pledge

Germany’s Öko-Institut warned the EU must cut global warming transport emissions by 94% by 2050 to stop the planet’s temperature rising above the two degree limit agreed by world leaders at the Paris climate summit in December 2015.

Festive EU gives approval to member state projects

The European Commission was in a giving mood just in time for Christmas today (19 December) as it greenlit a number of member state projects.

Vans: Falling through the cracks of Europe’s transport policy

Light commercial vehicles are increasingly being used as a means to dodge social legislation and taxes, writes Samuel Kenny.

Ethanol makers criticise the EU’s ‘biased’ transport decarbonisation goals

The European Commission is in denial concerning the contribution of conventional ethanol to the EU's transport decarbonisation goals post-2020, according to European ethanol producers.

EU risks losing competitive edge in low-carbon fuels, warn industry and NGOs

EXCLUSIVE / The European Union risks losing its hard-won advantage on new low-carbon fuels to international competitors such as the US, a group of NGOs, leading companies, and think tanks has warned.

EU takes Germany to court over planned road toll

The European Commission referred Germany on Thursday (29 September) to the European Court of Justice over a planned road toll that it says discriminates against foreign drivers.

UNEP: Dieselgate will ‘push the electric revolution very quickly’

The ‘Dieselgate’ scandal will mark an important step towards phasing out the hundred-year-old internal combustion engine which doesn't have a place in a modern, low-carbon transport system, says Ulf Björnholm.

Road sector braces for EU bid to cut emissions

After a year of being dogged by the dieselgate scandal, the European road transport sector has started soul searching prompted by new EU plans to reduce carbon emissions.

EU countries want legal change for driverless cars – but they’ll have to wait

Driverless cars have figured into several EU policy plans lately, as politicians have advocated for speeding up work on the technology to stop countries like the United States from having a leg up on European auto manufacturers.

EU’s decarbonisation plans scrutinised by divided transport industry

EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc has to make good on a few promises she made before the summer break.

Road transport

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In July, the European Commission presented a strategy for low-emission mobility that could mean dramatic changes for the transport sector. EURACTIV.com looks at the implications for industry, with a focus on road freight.

Where is the ‘road map’ for road transport?

Trucks produce a quarter of the EU’s transport emissions, yet their environmental performance remains unregulated. We need strict standards and a level the playing field for all modes of transport, writes Karima Delli.

Transport emissions: Progress in the slow lane

I crashed my car the other day: mounted the curb, hit a rock, bent a wheel, rolled noisily to a nearby garage. The experience was a wake-up call. The European Commission's approach to reducing road transport emissions could do with a similar shock, writes Chris Davies.

Norway minister: ‘Petrol and diesel engines in cars are a thing of the past’

Politicians should be less concerned with protecting the polluting industries of the past and invest instead in the future, said Vidar Helgesen, calling on policymakers to speed up the transition to a green economy with environmental taxation schemes.

James Nix: Brexit could pave the way for EU-wide carbon tax

Originally, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) only came into place because the UK was opposed to using taxation as a policy instrument to reduce global warming. With Brexit, there is now an opportunity to look again at an EU-wide carbon tax, according to James Nix.

EU’s fanciful transport decarbonisation strategy

Europe seeks to stop the increase in transport GHG emissions with the wrong policies, writes Zoltán Szabó.

FuelsEurope boss: Burning global-warming petrol is society’s choice

The burning of petroleum in transport, despite its contribution to climate change, is a choice made by customers in a society that runs on liquid fuel, John Cooper has said. The director-general of FuelsEurope stated that there had never been a referendum, asking whether people were prepared to pay more for a low carbon future.