TEPR projects: Reducing CO₂ emissions from trucks and buses

After cars, trucks and buses are the most significant source of CO₂ emissions from transport in the EU. Elsewhere in the world, e.g. in the US, Japan and China, CO₂ emissions from trucks and buses have been regulated for a number of years. In 2018, for the first time, the European Commission proposed to regulate CO₂ emissions from trucks and buses in the EU. 

As with the regulation of CO₂ emissions from cars, in order to ensure that the CO₂ reduction targets for trucks and buses are feasible and cost-effective, it is important to understand the costs and CO₂ reduction potential associated with different technologies. It is also important that the design of the regulation provides the right incentives, which includes learning from what other parts of the world have done.

TEPR has supported the European Commission on a number of projects to support the development of EU regulation in this area:

• Technical support for the analysis of some elements of the CO₂ emission standards for heavy duty vehicles. This project is ongoing.
• Analysis of policies to reduce CO₂ emissions from trucks and buses that have been implemented elsewhere, which included an in-depth analysis and assessment of the truck and bus CO₂ reduction policies that have been implemented in other parts of the world, particularly in the US, Japan and China, to identify lessons that might be learnt for the EU.
• Light weighting as a means of reducing CO₂ emissions from trucks and buses, which identified the potential for, and costs and impacts of, using lighter materials to reduce CO₂ emissions from trucks and buses.
• Reducing CO₂ from trucks and buses: Strategy, which aimed to provide an overview of the existing fleet, the state of technological development and an estimate of the existing fuel use and CO₂ emissions from trucks and buses. It also involved an overview and assessment of potential policy measures that might be put in place to reduce such emissions.