Heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) are currently responsible for about one-fourth of fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector in the European Union. Within the HDV sector in the EU, tractor-trailers represent the largest share of CO2, accounting for roughly 70% of emissions.

On May 17, 2018, the European Commission released a regulatory proposal for setting the first ever carbon dioxide (CO2) emission standards for new heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) sold in the European Union.

Heavy-duty vehicles in the European Union so far have not been subject to carbon dioxide emissions or fuel-consumption standards, making Europe the largest market without mandatory limits for such vehicles.

The CO2 certification procedures for HDVs in the EU and the United Stated use a combination of component testing and vehicle simulation to assign official CO2 emission and fuel consumption values.

In the European Union, CO2 emissions from commercial vehicles grew much faster than from passenger vehicles from 1990 to 2014. Trucks and buses now produce about a quarter of CO2 emissions from road transport in the EU, and that share is growing as emissions from cars and vans decline further to meet increasingly tight CO2 standards.

Analyzes the benefits of establishing separate engine CO2 standards in addition to full-vehicle regulations to specifically drive improvements in heavy-duty engine efficiency.

Summarizes provisions of the implementing act adopted in May 2017 by the European Union for type-approval of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption of on-road heavy-duty vehicles, which will go into effect in 2019 and 2020.

Heavy-duty vehicles produce about a quarter of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from road transport in the European Union (EU), and some 5% of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Their share is growing, as emissions from cars and vans decline in response to increasingly stringent CO2 standards for those vehicles.