The revised Renewable Energy Directive and the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation were adopted on 9 October, meaning the EU now has legally binding climate targets covering all key sectors of the economy.
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How will new EU legislation increase the number of zero-emission vehicles in Europe?
With the adoption of new strengthened CO2 performance standards for cars and vans, all new cars and vans registered in the European market will need to be zero-emission by 2035. As an intermediary step towards zero emissions, the new CO2 standards will also require average emissions of new cars to come down by 55% by 2030, and new vans by 50% by 2030 compared to 2021.
These ambitious CO2 standards will make the EU’s transport system more sustainable, provide cleaner air for Europeans and marks an important step in delivering the European Green Deal. It will put road transport on a firm path to zero-emission mobility in 2050 and contribute to the decrease of greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector by 90% by mid-century.
This new legislation is a clear signal to manufacturers and citizens to accelerate the production and sale of low- and zero-emission vehicles. All car and van manufacturers will have to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions. That is why the derogation for small volume manufacturers those selling between 1,000 and 10,000 new cars or 22,000 new vans in a calendar year – is removed as of 2030 under the strengthened standards.
In addition, the Commission has also proposed ambitious new CO2 emissions targets for new heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) from 2030 onwards to reduce CO2 emissions from trucks, city buses, and long-distance buses. This segment of the road transport sector also needs to contribute to the shift to zero-emissions mobility and the EU’s climate and zero pollution objectives. The proposal is currently under negotiation with European co-legislators.
How will the new legislation help build the necessary charging infrastructure?
The new Regulation for the deployment of Alternative Fuels Infrastructure (AFIR) sets mandatory deployment targets for electric recharging and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for the road sector. Fleet-based targets will ensure that the publicly accessible recharging infrastructure for cars and vans grows at the same speed as the electric vehicle fleet. To this end, for each battery electric car registered in a Member State, a power output of 1.3 KW – and for each plug-in hybrid car, 0.8 kW – in publicly accessible recharging infrastructure is installed.
To ensure full connectivity across the Trans-European Transport (TEN-T) network of European highways, recharging pools of at least 300 kW capacity provided by fast recharging points (with at least one of a capacity of 150 kW) will have to be installed every 60 km along the TEN-T core network by 2025, and 600 kW capacity by 2030. On the TEN-T comprehensive network, these targets have to gradually be achieved by 2035, with first targets coming into force in 2027.
For hydrogen refuelling, one refuelling station will have to be available in every urban node and every 200 km along the TEN-T core network, serving both passenger cars and heavy-duty vehicles.
For electric heavy-duty vehicles, recharging points need to be gradually deployed along the TEN-T core network every 60 km with at least 3,600 kW power output by 2030 and, on the TEN-T comprehensive network, every 100 km with at least 1,500 kW power output from 2025 onwards, with complete network coverage to be achieved by 2030. Equally, recharging points have to be provided in safe and secure parking, for overnight recharging, as well as in major cities and agglomerations serving as urban nodes along the TEN-T network to allow for recharging of urban delivery trucks. Gaps in LNG refuelling infrastructure for trucks will be filled until 2025.
By making this minimum recharging and refuelling infrastructure available across the EU, the new rules will address consumer concerns about the difficulty to recharge or refuel a vehicle. Sufficient public charging capacity will be in place to meet the demands of the bigger fleet of zero-emission cars that will come onto the market as well as further supply of private chargers at home or at work, under the Renovation Wave and the new legislation improving the energy performance of our buildings.
AVIATION
How will ReFuelEU Aviation increase the use of sustainable aviation fuels?
ReFuelEU Aviation means fuel suppliers will supply EU airports with an increasing minimum share of SAF (sustainable aviation fuels) blended with kerosene. This will apply to all aviation fuel suppliers supplying at Union airports and to the vast majority of aircraft operators (above certain minimum passenger and cargo thresholds). More than 95% of air transport departing EU airports will be covered by this new Regulation.
The Regulation keeps the level playing field at its core by introducing EU-wide minimum shares which will also replace any existing national legislations regulating SAF supply and uptake. The aircraft operators will have improved access to increasing shares of SAF across EU, thanks to the European minimum shares. Specifically, the level of the minimum shares of SAF is defined for the period from 2025 to 2050 at the levels:
2% from 2025;
6% from 2030;
20% from 2035;
34% from 2040;
42% from 2045;
70% from 2050.
Additionally, there will be dedicated minimum shares for synthetic aviation fuels, the most scalable and sustainable fuels, to boost the decarbonisation of aviation. These shares will be:
1.2% from 2030
2% from 2032;
5% from 2035;
10% from 2040;
15% from 2045;
35% from 2050.
To avoid both carbon leakage and unnecessary emissions, aircraft operators departing from Union airports will have to refuel at least 90% of the fuel necessary for their flight when departing from a Union airport (notwithstanding relevant safety rules). This will prevent situations where aircraft operators carry excessive fuel to avoid having to refuel in a given airport where costs may be higher due to the supply of SAF. Carrying excessive fuel also leads to extra weight, more fuel consumption and higher emissions. Moreover, under the Regulation, Union airports will have to ensure that their fuelling infrastructure is accessible and fit for SAF distribution.
The SAF blending mandate covers synthetic aviation fuels (e-fuels), biofuels (except those produced from food and feed crops) and recycled carbon fuels, all in line with the sustainability criteria of the Renewable Energy Directive.
This EU law is estimated to reduce CO2 emissions of aviation by more than 60% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels, and will provide additional air quality benefits by reducing non-CO2 emissions. In addition, it will allow to trigger investments thanks to a long-term predictable legal framework. The SAF supply obligations are expected to trigger increased SAF production in Europe and globally. Together with the revised rules on the EU Emissions Trading System in the aviation sector, ReFuelEU Aviation will thus put aviation in the right path to meet our overall target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of transport by 90% by 2050 (compared to 1990 levels). Through the revised EU Emissions Trading System for aviation, around 1.6 billion of revenues will be generated for investments in sustainable aviation fuels.
MARITIME
How will maritime transport decarbonise?
The EU ETS extension to maritime transport and FuelEU Maritime will, together, improve the attractiveness and economic feasibility of more energy-efficient ships and low-GHG fuels and technologies. While the ETS will put a price and cap on fossil-based CO2 emissions, FuelEU Maritime Regulation will promote the uptake of renewable and low-carbon fuels through a target for gradual reductions for the annual average GHG intensity of the energy used onboard by ships. Both ETS and FuelEU Maritime will be applicable to ships above 5,000GT calling at EU ports, covering CO2 emissions and energy used, respectively, in EU ports, intra-EU and half of emissions/energy used in international voyages.
FuelEU targets are determined against a reference value reflecting the average greenhouse gas intensity of energy used onboard by ships in 2020, and reduced by the following percentages:
2% from 2025;
6% from 2030;
14.5% from 2035;
31% from 2040;
62% from 2045;
80% from 2050.
The combination of ETS extension to maritime transport and the FuelEU Maritime Regulation will provide a well-defined regulatory context for the creation of an optimised business case for deployment of renewable and low-carbon fuels and low-GHG technologies in shipping.
Given that special flexibility will be needed for the energy transition in shipping, FuelEU includes specific provisions to help operators comply. Particularly, a voluntary pooling mechanism gives the possibility to operators to pool their compliance balance with one or more other ships allowing to reward “first-movers” while making it possible for ships with less compliance options to continue operating and demonstrate compliance though participation in a pool.
On the global level, European measures will help in the development of future International Maritime Organization (IMO) technical and Market-Based Measures for decarbonisation of shipping.
How will emissions be reduced from ships at berth in European ports?
The new Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation requires TEN-T maritime ports to install electricity supply to serve the demand of at least 90% of containerships and passenger ships, above 5,000GT, calling at that port, by 1 January 2030. The requirement applies specifically to ports having port call thresholds of 100, 40 and 25 port calls/year for containerships, passenger ferries and cruise ships respectively. In addition, one shore side electricity installation must be provided at every TEN-T inland waterway port.
According FuelEU Maritime Regulation, from 1 January 2030, those same passenger ships and containerships are required to use onshore power supply unless they can demonstrate use of another zero-emission technology. The Regulation also requires mandatory connection in ports which, despite not being covered by AFIR (e.g. smaller ports or ports not meeting the defined AFIR thresholds), have invested and developed shore-power capacity.
The use of Onshore Power Supply (OPS) in EU ports will support decarbonisation of the energy used by ships at berth through direct input of renewable energy used in electricity production throughout Europe. While it may be true that not all power supplied to ships in ports will be emissions-free today, electricity will become increasingly decarbonised in every port, especially from 2030 onwards. OPS infrastructure will, to this end, create today the necessary connectivity with future green electricity for ships.
In addition, favouring a technological neutral approach, the law accommodates all renewable and low-carbon fuels in maritime transport, such as liquid biofuels, e-liquids, decarbonised gas (including bio-LNG and e-gas), decarbonised hydrogen and decarbonised hydrogen-derived fuels (including methanol, and ammonia), as well as electricity. While some of these fuels are already technologically mature, their application in the maritime sector remains to be broadly tested and deployed and has been so far extremely limited without clear targets providing investor certainty. AFIR, in conjunction with other Fitfor55 instruments applicable to maritime transport, namely ETS and FuelEU, will mitigate the risk and provide that necessary certainty for in investment in innovative low-GHG technologies.
Source: European Commission
