New EU climate targets for trucks are being voted on today after Germany’s Transport Ministry, led by the Free Democratic Party, backed away from its support for the legislation. European Union ambassadors are scheduled to sign an agreement on the legislation today. But the FDP unilaterally threatened to withdraw German support without consulting its coalition partners or the chancellery.
The German blockage is caused by the Free Democratic Party, which is calling for a loophole for e-fuels and biofuels – including climate-damaging palm oil – despite the Transport Ministry signing off on the EU Council plan. Position in October Fuel allocated to trucks will be reviewed in 2027. German government He welcomed the Council’s position On the basis that it included a review. Just days before today’s vote, the Schulz government also reversed its position on the EU’s corporate due diligence law, and last year reversed its CO2 law for cars.
Fedor Unterloner, Director of Shipping Policy at Transport and Environment, said: “This is the third time that the Schulz government has threatened to go back on its word and block the agreement with its EU partners. The message is that Germany’s position is up in the air until the ink on the law dries. The German government and Schulz should not allow themselves to be intimidated into backing out of a deal they support.” Even the domestic automobile industry.
German and European truck makers said they did not want an e-fuel or biofuel loophole in the CO2 law for trucks because it would create regulatory uncertainty. In a letter to the German government In October, the CEOs of Daimler Truck, MAN, Volvo Group and Scania/Traton said the carbon correction factor “risks undermining the aim of regulation and creating an uncertain regulatory environment” for the industry.
A carbon correction factor would allow trucks running on synthetic fuels and even unsustainable biofuels, such as palm oil and soybeans, to be considered climate neutral. Palm oil biodiesel is the worst of all biofuels. launch three times Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil diesel. Soy biodiesel releases twice as much greenhouse gas emissions.
Fedor Unterloner said: “German truck manufacturers have said they do not want a loophole for e-fuel or biofuel. The FDP is running against the interests of the domestic auto industry which wants regulatory certainty, not turning to dead-end technologies when in a race with foreign rivals to electrify them.”
Trucks and buses are responsible for 27% of climate emissions from road transport in Europe, while accounting for only 2% of vehicles on the road.
