Oil companies fear that the electric car will encourage the use of coal

• Fuels Europe calls for recognition of renewable and synthetic fuels

The European Commission prepares a new package of measures to advance in the decarbonization of heavy transport that it expects to present this coming November with the intention of raising the emission reduction objectives, while advancing in the trilogues for CO standards₂ of cars and vans.

Given the progress of these measures, oil companies and the automotive sector, but also employers such as Appa Biocarburantes have come together to ask the Commission to open options for combustion vehicles to be neutral in emissions.

A joint letter signed by Fuels Europe, AOP, the Union of Independent Oil Companies or Repsol, warns of the changes that have occurred in the geopolitical landscape since the Commission’s proposal on_CO2 standards in cars and vans of July 2021.

Among the risks that they consider that they can occur, they cite the increase in the prices of raw materials for batteries and the supply limitations that they consider “will jeopardize the availability of affordable cars for many citizens and, therefore, delay the renewal of the fleet. These risks expand demand for fossil fuels and slow the pace of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.”

Fuels Europe also insists that in response to the energy crisis, which is reshaping energy policy in Europe, the average greenhouse gas intensity of EU electricity may increase, as coal use is expected to grow.

“There is no guarantee that we will have enough renewable electricity to meet the growing demand for electrified transport, with the risk that marginal electricity consumption may even come from coal. Current vehicle standards, based solely on tailpipe emissions, do nothing to prevent this, to the detriment of the overall reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The employers demand a rethinking of the hypotheses of how to achieve climate neutrality

The deployment of charging infrastructure across Europe is increasing, but a sufficiently dense network across the EU is not yet guaranteed. This creates uncertainty that prevents many drivers from switching to electromobility.

For oil companies, the publication of the Commission’s impact assessment in September 2020 only addressed some of these issues, although recent events have made them critical.

For this reason, the employers are calling for a rethinking of the assumptions made about how best to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, while ensuring a just transition for EU industry. In this sense, they demand that all solutions that can contribute to a reduction in emissions be considered, such as the recognition by the regulations and society that ICE, HEV and PHEV vehicles that exclusively use sustainable renewable and synthetic fuels can have very low emissions or even be totally neutral.

Ban on the sale of combustion trucks and buses in 2035

Trucks and buses are only 2% of the total vehicles on the road, but in 2020 they were responsible for 28% of_CO2 emissions from road transport in Spain, according to Transport & Environment. With the EU presenting a proposal in November to strengthen climate targets for the heavy-duty vehicle sector, a new study shows that if all polluting vehicles are scheduled to be removed from the road by 2050 if the aim is to remove all polluting vehicles by 2050, they must be sold by 2035.

Source: The Economist