Council Adopts Monitoring And Reporting Co2 Emissions Rules

The Council today adopted a regulation on monitoring and reporting of CO2 emissions as well as fuel consumption of new heavy-duty vehicles. This regulation forms part of the EU's overall efforts to reduce CO2 emissions, and it is a step towards a competitive low carbon economy.

According to the statement made by the council, the new rules enable transport companies, of which many are small and medium-sized enterprises, to obtain access to standardised information on fuel consumption and to compare different models of lorries, trucks and buses.

This will allow them to make well-informed purchasing decisions, and thereby reduce their fuel bills which account for more than a quarter of their operating costs.

The increased transparency will encourage manufacturers to develop more energy efficient heavy-duty vehicles. Higher fuel efficiency also means lower overall CO2 emissions, benefiting the environment.

"I am very pleased that environment ministers have given their approval to this new legislation today. For the first time, we are putting in place standard rules to monitor the CO2 emissions and fuel consumption from heavy duty vehicles. Creating competitive environment for efficient vehicles will benefit not only the transport operators, but all citizens through reduced costs and cleaner air" said Neno Dimov, Minister for Environment and Water of Bulgaria.

The new system of monitoring and reporting provides the basis for the legislative proposal on setting and enforcing standards on CO2 emissions and fuel consumption for heavy-duty vehicles, which the Commission presents to ministers later today at the Environment Council.

For cars and vans, rules are already in place. This new regulation is aimed at lorries, buses and coaches. Emissions of heavy-duty vehicles registered in the EU will for the first time be measured and monitored in a standardised way.

The regulation foresees the creation of a central EU register where authorities and manufacturers will provide data on CO2 emissions and fuel consumption performance. In order to be transparent and allow for easier comparison between different vehicle models, this data will be made accessible to the public. The only exceptions will be cases which are justified by the need to protect private data and to ensure fair competition.

According to the European Environment Agency, greenhouse gas emissions from road transport in 2015 were 19 percent above 1990 levels.

In 2015 road transport was responsible for almost 73 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions from transport, including aviation and international shipping.

Of these emissions, 44.5 percent were contributed by passenger cars, while 18.8 percent came from heavy-duty vehicles.

However, in order to reach the 2030 climate policy framework objectives, the EU aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport to around 20% below their 2008 level by 2030. - Istanbul