Transport Brief - Kingmaker Renew decides the fate of Euro 7

Kingmaker Renew decides the fate of Euro 7

Ahead of a crucial vote in the Parliament’s Environment Committee on Thursday (12 October), the centrist Renew group has signalled they will align with the centre-right EPP and conservative ECR in backing a milder version of the Euro 7 proposal, dashing the hopes of the socialists and Greens.

While the EPP and ECR groups were always against a wide-ranging Euro 7 – a Commission proposal to further tighten vehicle pollution standards – the liberal Renew group played their cards somewhat closer to their chest.

In opposing the Commission’s text, the conservatives highlighted the industrial burden of mandating fresh changes to combustion engines. Doing so would not only push up the cost of new cars for consumers, they argued, but it would divert money from the transition to zero-emission vehicles – the real silver bullet for vehicle air pollution.

“The proposed Euro 7 standard will harm consumers and the manufacturers. Its impacts are disproportionate to its positive environmental effects,” said MEP Alexandr Vondra of ECR, the lead lawmaker on the file.

Meanwhile, the centre-left S&D group and the Greens pushed in the opposite direction, calling for an even more ambitious version of the law on health grounds.

The socialists and greens emphasised air quality, noting that a watered-down Euro 7 would condemn thousands to die prematurely from respiratory illness, particularly in traffic-heavy cities.

The fleet of combustion engine cars will remain with us for decades to come, they reminded those opposed. Reducing the level of permitted pollutants, such as particulates and carbon monoxide, would benefit not just this generation but the next.

This schism put Renew in something of a kingmaker role. The support of the centrists was crucial to both camps to ensure their preferred version of the law got over the line.

So, which way would Susana Solís Pérez, the Renew shadow rapporteur, lean? Would she put the emphasis on removing financial roadblocks to the electric transition? Or focus on improving air quality before EVs become the norm?

E-fuels fuelling debate, but not (yet) cars

After two years of negotiations, EU countries adopted new CO2 standards for cars based on the compromise that while tailpipe emissions of new cars must normally be zero as of 2035, an exemption should be granted for cars running on ‘climate neutral’ fuels.

This refers to e-fuels, Synthetic fuels that combine carbon with hydrogen. If CO2 is taken from the atmosphere when the fuel is produced, it can be considered climate-neutral over its lifetime.

However, this category of cars is turning out to be tricky. The Commission proposed only allowing fuels that reduce carbon emissions by 100%, which seems to be a reasonable translation of ‘CO2 neutral’.

But the e-fuels lobby says this is technically not possible, even suspecting the Commission aims to ban e-fuel-cars through the backdoor.

Environmental organisation Transport & Environment (T&E), meanwhile, says 100% neutral is possible. This puts them in the awkward position of defending controversial Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology just to make the point that e-fuels – which they hate when used in cars – can be clean.

The issue is being dealt with by member state experts in the ‘Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles’ (TCMV), giving the impression that there is no political debate on this, only a “technical” discussion.

Meanwhile, the lobby feud continues.

“It is astonishing that the e-fuels lobby has been telling us for years how clean their fuels are, but now the envisaged criteria cannot be met,” T&E’s Friederike Piper said last week. In an op-ed published today on Euractiv, her colleague Julia Poliscanova hits out against “German liberals and their oil friends”.

The e-fuel lobby’s response followed promptly, partly acknowledging middle ground.

While CCS could indeed be used to offset emissions that can’t be avoided when producing e-fuels, how much of it can be used by 2035 was “still uncertain – also for T&E”, Ralf Diemer, boss of the eFuel Alliance, told Euractiv.

But remember, another thing is also uncertain: What amount of e-fuels will there be in 2035?

If production does not ramp up soon, the technology will likely be a non-starter, fuelling only a few Porsches and Lamborghinis – but not saving the combustion engine more broadly.

– Jonathan Packroff

Is Germany’s €49 ticket in danger?

Germany made waves with the rollout of its cheap nationwide public transport tickets. It offered a monthly ticket for only €9 in the summer of 2022 and introduced a similar €49 ticket as of May this year.

Cheap public transport has become a ‘darling’ policy, helping the climate and poor citizens alike (something rare these days).

No wonder then that both the Greens and the liberal FDP – normally at odds on all things transport – are trying to take credit for the ticket. FDP politicians even called it ‘Wissing Ticket’, a reference to German Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP/Renew Europe).

However, since its introduction, the Deutschlandticket (that’s its official name) has faced quite some blowback.

First, a study by the German Environment Agency found the ticket to be an ineffective tool for climate protection, reducing car use by much less than what was thought by the transport ministry.

And now, the ticket seems to be under threat entirely, with activists sending out emails like “Volker Wissing wants to take away the 49-euro ticket!”.

What happened? In short, the costs of the ticket are higher than previously thought, and now neither the federal government (Bund) nor the states (Länder) want to pay for the extra costs.

Länder ministers have threatened that without sorting out the finances, “a continuation of the ‘Deutschlandticket’ is not possible”.

Luckily, Bund and Länder will indeed try to sort out financing in a conference to be held this Wednesday and Thursday (11-12 October). The agenda item is called “continuation of the Deutschlandticket”, so expect white smoke from the negotiations soon.

One caveat, though: The price of the ticket may go up. With transport workers’ wages on the rise, there might be good reason for that.

– Jonathan Packroff

Chinese cars far from ‘flooding’ Germany, despite political jitters

Chinese cars are far from flooding the German market: Their share of overall car sales in Germany remains low, but it is rising when it comes to electric cars, which is a matter of concern for politicians and European carmakers alike.

Cycling gets boost from Brussels with EU declaration

EU transport commissioner Adina Vălean launched the European Declaration on Cycling on Wednesday (4 October), signalling Brussels’ willingness to throw its political weight behind travelling by two wheels.

Major airlines suspended flights to Israel after attack

Major international air carriers suspended or scaled back flights to or from Tel Aviv, while Russia banned night flights to Israel after a surprise attack by Hamas militants over the weekend and a threat of escalating conflict raised safety concerns.

French hydrogen industry bets on commercial vehicles in clean mobility race

Faced with the growing dominance of electric vehicles, the hydrogen industry is betting on commercial vehicles to capture a share of the clean mobility market.

New study questions accuracy of EU’s biofuel impact assessments

Skewed data was used to determine the impact of the EU’s renewable energy directive, a scientific paper has claimed, raising questions about the model and process employed by the European Commission to assess policy options for transport decarbonisation.

E-fuels cannot save Europe from Chinese electric vehicles

Europe’s focus on synthetic fuels to make combustion engine vehicles carbon neutral is a dangerous distraction that will see EU industry cede further ground to Asian electric vehicle manufacturers, argues Julia Poliscanova of Transport & Environment.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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