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NGOs urge EU Commission to set target for zero emission trucks for 2035

Publish date: November 24, 2022

Open letter of environmental, health and consumer organisations to the Commission urging to put all new trucks on a path to zero emission by 2035 and aligning road freight with the EU’s climate commitments.

Together with 38 European environmental, health and consumer associations, Bellona signed an open letter asking the European Commission to set the deadline at 2035 to oblige all new trucks to be zero emission.

The letter states the following:

The time to set an end date for diesel trucks is now, requiring an ambitious midterm target of at least 65% in 2030 to be ready in time. We, the signatories, form a broad coalition of 39 environmental, health and consumer associations from across Europe, representing people in more than 14 European countries. We call on the Commission to ensure that all new trucks are zero emission by 2035 at the latest. A 100% zero emission target for trucks in 2035 is the minimum level of ambition needed if the EU is serious about reaching climate neutrality by 2050, given that on average most trucks stay on our roads for more than 18 years. Ambitious HDV CO2
standards are needed to make zero emission for heavy-duty a reality and rapidly scale up the supply of clean trucks. In particular, we urge you to:

  • Ensure each and every new truck sold in 2035 is zero emission.
  • Increase the 2030 CO2 reduction target to at least 65%, thereby ensuring a rapid scale-up of ZET production.
  • Start early enough and move the 30% target from 2030 to 2027.
  • Extend the regulation to all heavy-duty vehicles, including small and medium lorries, vocational vehicles, buses and coaches as well as trailers.

Read the whole text here.

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