During the plenary session in the European Parliament in Strasbourg (15-18 April 2019), MEPs debate and vote on new legislation to regulate CO2 emissions for lorries in the EU.

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

EICKHOUT, Bas (Greens/EFA, NL)

emissions of vehicles (T)

ARIAS CAÑETE, Miguel (EPP, ES, EC)

TORVALDS, Nils (Renew, FI)

ZOFFOLI, Damiano (S&D, IT)

VIRKKUNEN, Henna (EPP, FI)

CO2 emission performance standards for new heavy duty vehicles: extracts from the debate

Title: CO2 emission performance standards for new heavy duty vehicles: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (English), Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL), rapporteur, I think we managed in good cooperation with the different shadow rapporteurs and all the different groups who I would like to thank for their contributions, we did not always agree, but I think in the end we have come to a deal where everyone can support and feel that we are touching the importance of this file which is putting a CO2 reduction in place for 2025 or 15 percent. And by 2030 a binding target of 30 percent.

SOUNDBITE (English), Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL), rapporteur , On heavy duty vehicles. it was really high time, that is Europe. We started to regulate this because countries like the United States Japan and Canada already regulated that before us. So we are catching up and making sure that innovation and these new technologies will be done within Europe creating the jobs within Europe and at the same time delivering a decarbonisation of our transport sector which is so badly needed if we want to achieve the Paris agreement with that.

SOUNDBITE (English), Miguel ARIAS CA&#209;ETE, Member of the EC in charge of Climate Action and Energy, Transport operators will benefit from fuel savings up to twenty five thousand euros in the first years or five years of use of a new truck bought in 2025 and around 60 thousand euro for that new truck both in 2030 and this will help in particular 600.000 as small and medium sized enterprises that operate within the European Union freight transport sector and employ almost 3 million people. The legislation will also contribute to modernize European Union economy and especially the automotive sector to channel investments and strengthen innovation for clean technologies.

SOUNDBITE (Finnish), Henna VIRKKUNEN (EPP, FI), Transport committee opinion, Thanks to these measures there will be greater innovation in the sector and better fuel efficiency. We need benchmarks. We need ways of measuring. We need to ensure that we take into account all the energy sources in the whole lifecycle and we need to also respect neutrality of technology in our efforts to reduce emissions.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Damiano ZOFFOLI (S&amp;D, IT), The regulation also provides for a mechanism to encourage the use of electric lorries with low emission levels so that as 2025 there'll be a minimum compulsory share of this type of vehicle which would be equal to 2 per cent for manufacturers. Now there will be public and private investment which will be encouraged for recharging and with a view to decarbonisation of the transport sector which to a large extent. Ninety four percent of it still depends on fuel fuels like conventional fuels.

SOUNDBITE (Finnish), Nils TORVALDS (ALDE, FI), <p>We have some challenges ahead of us. One is fragmentation when it comes to manufacturing. We've got some manufacturers who will actually meet these targets without any difficulty. Then you've got other manufacturers will find it very very hard to achieve these targets and that will make things much more complicated.</p>