Today, the European Parliament adopted the agreement on the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS II).
The ETS II will establish a new separate emission trading system for road transport. The trading of CO2 allowances will be handled by the fuel distributors and the system will be launched already in 2027, or at the latest 2028 if energy prices rise dramatically. It is expected that the quota system will lead to considerable price increases for fossil-based fuels.
The Common Road Transport Office of BGL, FNTR and NLA strongly warns against the risk of double or even triple taxation of the commercial road transport sector, both from ETS II, and additional national and EU measures.
Putting new financial burdens on the road transport sector will not lead to green transition, as our many small and medium sized companies do not have any realistic green alternatives today. The alternative infrastructure for battery electric and hydrogen trucks is still completely absent in Europe. Moreover, battery electric and hydrogen fuelled trucks still come in the foreseeable future at a cost of 2 to 4 times higher than for internal combustion engine trucks. The bottom line is that the commercial road transport sector is taxed again, without having a real opportunity to convert the industry to greener forms of transport. What we need now are the building up of alternative infrastructure, availability and economic incentives to make the green shift.
We therefore strongly recommend that the revenue from the ETS II is earmarked for rolling out infrastructure for alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, electricity and PowertoX. The latter can be used by the transport sector here and now to reduce emissions, while we wait for the technology to mature for the battery electric trucks. In conclusion, our sector is fully committed to doing our part to help reduce CO2 emissions, but it must be done in a pragmatic and realistic way.
