With the aim of improving the quality of life and health of citizens and contributing to the EU’s climate objectives laid down in the Paris Agreement, on 26 March 2018 a provisional agreement on the Regulation for monitoring and reporting CO2 emissions and fuel consumption from new heavy-duty vehicles has been reached.

Miguel Arias Cañete,Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, said: “This agreement is proof of Europe’s firm intention to curb the growing CO2 emissions from heavy-duty vehicles. I thank the European Parliament and the Council for their work to reach this ambitious outcome. With this new robust, reliable and transparent monitoring and reporting system, we are on track for the next step: CO2 emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles to be proposed in May 2018.”

On the basis of data collected by the European Environment Agency, in 2015 emissions levels of CO2 from road transport were 19% above 1990’s levels. In 2015, 73% of greenhouse gas emissions originated from the transport sector, of which 18% from heavy-duty vehicles. According to the EU 2030 climate policy framework objective, the European Union should reduce CO2 emissions from transport to around 20% below their 2008 level.

To reach the objectives abovementioned, the new provisional agreement proposes a system of monitoring and reporting CO2 emissions and fuel consumption from new heavy-duty vehicles registered in the EU based on the following elements:

• Member States should monitor and report registration data concerning all new heavy-duty vehicles registered in a calendar year, including trailers;
• vehicle manufacturers should monitor and report information related to CO2 emissions and fuel consumption according to specific EU rules;
• the Commission should make reported data publicly available in a register, managed by the European Environment Agency;
• the Commission should set up a system of administrative fines in case of vehicle manufacturers not reporting the data or reporting falsified data;
• the Commission should set up a system for monitoring and reporting the results of future on-road tests for the verification of the CO2 emissions and fuel consumption of heavy-duty vehicles.

The provisional agreement must now be formally approved by the European Parliament and the Council. Following the approval, the Regulation will be published in the EU’s Official Journal and enter into force 20 days later.