The European Commission published a proposal which aims to amend existing legislation on CO2 emission performance standards for certain categories of new heavy-duty vehicles in the EU. The proposal sets out how much average CO2 emissions should be reduced by from 2025, 2030, 2035 and 2040, compared to 2019 (the base year).
If ambitious climate targets are to be met, it is vital that the road transport sector continues to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions through the adoption of low-carbon technologies.
Which vehicles are affected?
Vehicles over 3.5 tonnes initially registered from 1 July 2019 must be ranked in one of five CO2 toll emission classes. All vehicles registered before July 2019 are automatically assigned to class 1.
The German CO2 emission classes come into force on December 1, 2023
Thus, starting from December 1, all vehicles over 7.5 tons will be classified in one of the 5 CO2 tax classes, numbered from 1 to 5. All vehicles registered before July 1, 2019 are automatically assigned to class 1 .
The CO2 charging system in Germany will be followed by the one in Austria (from January 2024) and the new rates applied to road taxes will be published soon.
How this will impact the commercial road transporters?
Because many commercial road transporters are family-owned SMEs, the transition to a fleet of new Heavy Duty Vehicles (HDV), equipped with the latest technologies, can be expensive.
Moreover, it is expected that the amended legislations will also mean increase in toll tariffs in Europe, based on the European emission standards for heavy-duty diesel engines- g/kWh, as a way to discourage polluting HDVs and encourage the purchase of Low-emission heavy-duty and Emission free vehicles.
Please make sure you are subscribed to the news for further information on the matter.
