July 10, 2021. NGVA Europe states that, once the European Commission presents the Fit for 55 package in July, the reduction of CO2 emissions in transport will become an important point of discussion. The entity thinks that this sector should be cleaner and make its contribution to achieving the climate objectives set by the European Union’s Green Pact, especially considering that in 2018 road traffic accounted for 26% of all emissions of CO2 from the EU.
While total CO2 emissions have decreased by 23% since 1990, those emitted by transport have increased by 24% during this same period. “The bottom line is that despite extensive regulatory activities, the current policy framework has failed to deliver. Even worse, the political discussion is currently focusing on a ‘more of the same’ approach which risks perpetuating a history of failure and does not look at the root cause of the missed target: an ineffective regulatory methodology to reduce CO2 in transport”, says Timm Kehler, CEO of the German Gas Industry Association Zukunft Gas and President of NGVA Europe.
From the organization that represents the interests of gaseous fuel, they explain that natural gas represents a profitable course of action for a rapid decarbonisation of transport, since with biogas, CO2 emissions are reduced by up to 90%. However, they note that, under the current framework, car manufacturers have no incentive to promote vehicles that run on biogas. Assuming that there will be 13.2 million gas vehicles in Europe in 2030, and with a 40% share of biomethane, they assure that 15 million tons of CO2 could be saved. Thus, there is a great opportunity to decarbonize road transport that is currently being wasted.
NGVA Europe notes that the main policy regulating the transformation of the transport sector in the EU is the regulation of the CO2 fleet, which is largely centered around so-called emission-free electric mobility. In fact, regulations classify this technology as producing 0 grams of CO2, and by looking only at the tailpipe of a vehicle, this approach is effective. However, NGVA Europe cautions that it loses sight of the big picture as it does not take into account how the electricity that powers electric mobility is produced.
For this reason, European representatives of gas vehicles denounce that the existing regulatory framework, with its focus on tailpipe emissions, does not reflect the overall costs of CO2 throughout the system and the benefits offered by various low-carbon vehicles. Instead, the entire value chain should be viewed with a comprehensive “well-to-wheel” approach.
By looking at the full picture of emissions along the value chain, natural gas mobility is already effective today and offers the potential to reduce CO2 and pollutant emissions in the long term. With the mixture of biomethane and synthetic natural gas, emissions decrease accordingly. Therefore, full use of these green gases can even lead to negative greenhouse gas emissions.
However, these results can only be achieved with an adequate and results-oriented regulatory framework. For this to be the case, all technologies that reduce GHG emissions must have fair access to the market.
