EU cuts carbon emission limits for heavy duty vehicles

The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen (UFOP) has welcomed the decision by the European Parliament to lower the carbon emission limits for heavy duty commercial vehicles.
UFOP is also calling for a biofuel strategy that focuses on areas of application that are practically impossible to electrify.
This includes heavy goods transport in particular, but also agriculture and forestry.
This open-technology approach also includes the development of battery-electric drives and the use of hydrogen for fuel cells and enables the further development of combustion engines, which would also have to fulfil ever-increasing requirements for emissions approval.
According to the decision, commercial vehicle manufacturers will be obliged to reduce the average carbon emissions of heavy commercial vehicles by 45 % by 2030, 65 % by 2035 and 90 % by 2040.
UFOP welcomed the technological aspect of the decision, because Germany, as one of the leading international locations for the development of engines for commercial vehicles, should not be allowed to withdraw from this important market.
UFOP is taking the European Parliament's decision as an opportunity to scrutinise the recurring discussion about the use of sustainably certified biofuels from cultivated biomass. UFOP has clarified that the Renewable Energy Directive (2018/2001/EU) and the current amendments (RED III) have created the basis for a reliable long-term framework.
This applies in particular to the regulations on the continuation of the cap on biofuels from cultivated biomass and from waste, as well as the stipulation that biofuels from palm oil can no longer be counted towards quota obligations in all member states from 2030 at the latest.
Whether soya oil will also be excluded from use is currently being examined by the EU Commission. Even if the soya plant is labelled as an oil plant, the oil content of soya beans is 20 % on average, compared to 42 % for rapeseed grown in Europe.