In a joint letter to EU institutions ahead of the European Parliament plenary vote on October 3, the European Biogas Association (EBA), EUROGAS, Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) and the Natural & bio Gas Vehicle Association (NGVA Europe) call for the implementation of a Carbon Correction Factor (CCF) on carbon dioxide (CO2) emission standards for new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles.
In the letter sent to EU institutions ahead of the European Parliament plenary vote October 3, the European Biogas Association (EBA), EUROGAS, Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) and the Natural & bio Gas Vehicle Association (NGVA Europe) underline the importance of natural and renewable natural gas (RNG) as “a pragmatic solution” to quickly start the decarbonisation process and tackle air quality issues in urban areas of passenger vehicles.
Following the Paris Agreement, the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions standard regulation for passenger cars and light-duty vehicles needs to be updated. A Well-to-Wheel approach needs to be implemented in order to be in measure to assess the GHG emissions from future combinations of vehicle technologies and fuels.
We are addressing future technologies with the wrong tool: tailpipe CO2 emissions measurement does not express anymore, neither vehicle’s efficiency on hybrid architectures, nor climate change impact when renewable fuels are used, said Andrea Gerini, Secretary-General of NGVA Europe and one of the signatories.
For this reason, the signatories argue, it is crucial to amend the current proposal of the Regulation to include the benefits from the use of renewable gas and, more generally, from renewable fuels in road vehicles. The proposed amendment, the implementation of the Carbon Correction Factor – CCF – is a pragmatic transparent way towards a Well-to-Wheel approach.
A key aspect is that the Carbon Corrector Factor does not bring any ‘double counting’, but it solves the limitation of the current tailpipe emissions measurement methodology which does not distinguish the origin of the fuel.
We are not looking for a double incentive or a cheating way to be compliant with CO2 emissions targets, but are simply reflecting reality into legislation. We need to consider all effective solutions if we want to start to significantly curb CO2 emissions from the transport system from today and to keep a technology neutral approach to decarbonize system, Andrea Gerini said.
