Today, the European Parliament adopted its position on the EU Emission Trading System (ETS). In the European Commission’s proposal all road transport is included in a separate ETS. Now a majority in the Parliament is calling for a partial inclusion of road transport in the ETS, whereby only commercial road transport is included while private mobility is excluded until 2029, pending a new legislative proposal.
As it will not be possible to distinguish at refueling stations whether a vehicle is fueling for private or commercial purposes the responsibility of trading and monitor the CO2 quotas is moved away from the fuel distributor. This can have serious repercussions as the fuel distributor have the relevant data and the possibility to monitor the consumption of the fuels they distribute. Consequently, the responsibility of handling the CO2 quotes would land directly with the hauliers which has to be avoided.
Erik Østergaard, NLA president: “This is by no means the right approach. We need to be consistent if we are serious about the green transition of the transport sector. For a start, all actors – private and commercial – need to do their part. The many small and medium sized transport companies neither have the time nor resources to manage a complex quota system. We therefore strongly encourage EU Member States to get the proposal back on track and ensure that all actors of road transport – commercial and private – are addressed in the new ETS.”
Florence Berthelot, FNTR General delegate continues: ”The inclusion of road transport in the EU-ETS should be done by the fuel suppliers who will pay for carbon allowances and then pass on this cost to the road transport users. Our sector will not be able to bear an additional burden, notably in difficult economic situations with inflation and rising diesel prices.”
Prof. Dr. Dirk Engelhardt, BGL-CEO, concludes: ”If you exclude private transport from the ETS, it will essentially take more time to put in place the green transition. With less income in the ETS system there is also less money that can be reinvested in green solutions. With the Parliament’s proposal hauliers are basically asked to carry all the costs. In addition, we request that the revenue generated from the new ETS system has to be earmarked.”
The Common office’s press release can be downloaded from the link below.
