18 European companies unite to urge decarbonisation of road freight

You can read this article in 3 minutes

A newly-formed coalition of European key players in road freight urges the EU to accelerate the transition to clean trucks to meet the emission targets of the proposed EU Climate Law by 2030 and achieve a carbon-neutral Europe by 2050.

Eighteen European businesses and organisations have launched the European Clean Trucking Alliance (ECTA), a coalition to call for the decarbonisation of road freight in the EU.

Altogether, the ECTA business members employ more than 1.6 million people globally and have over EUR 325 billion yearly revenue. This latter figure is comparable to the GDP of Denmark1. The organisations that have joined ECTA are some of the civil society organisations and associations with the strongest network of members and experience in transport and mobility at the European level. The International Council on Clean Transportation acts as technical observer.

There are approximately 40 million vehicles delivering across Europe, with trucks carrying more than three-quarters of all freight transported over land. As road freight activity is expected to double by 20504, ECTA aims to support the EU in the development and implementation of sustainable road freight transport policies to drastically reduce CO2 and air pollutant emissions.

 The road to zero emissions is global, cross-sectoral and unstoppable and, in this context, the shift towards clean technologies is becoming more evident across all segments of road transportation” – Teresa Ribera, Fourth Vice-President of the Government and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge of Spain, said. 

In its first communication “Europe’s Opportunity to Decarbonise the Road Freight Sector”, ECTA calls upon the European Commission to make the shift to zero-emissions trucks a priority in order to meet the ambitious emission targets of the proposed EU Climate Law by 2030 and achieve a carbon-neutral Europe by 2050.

As EU Member States consider recovery investments in response to the Covid-19 crisis, ECTA urges them “to safeguard jobs and support long-term sustainable solutions that will decarbonise the road freight sector”.

 Photo: Pixabay

Tags