Skip to main content

Truck CO2 standards ‘must be part of Government CO2 reduction policy’

In response to the UK Government’s Fifth Carbon Budget, Freight on Rail says that the Department for Transport must support EU plans to introduce CO2 truck standards to bring HGVs into line with cars and vans. In the UK, HGVs contribute 17 per cent of surface transport’s CO2 emissions even though it only makes up five per cent of road miles driven. Philippa Edmunds, Freight on Rail manager, Campaign for Better Transport said CO2 standards and reduction targets for HGVs are long overdue as truck manufac
July 4, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
In response to the UK Government’s Fifth Carbon Budget, Freight on Rail says that the 1837 Department for Transport must support EU plans to introduce CO2 truck standards to bring HGVs into line with cars and vans.  In the UK, HGVs contribute 17 per cent of surface transport’s CO2 emissions even though it only makes up five per cent of road miles driven.

Philippa Edmunds, Freight on Rail manager, Campaign for Better Transport said CO2 standards and reduction targets for HGVs are long overdue as truck manufacturers have failed to significantly improve truck efficiency of their own accord over the past 20 years.

She added that there is potential to improve HGV engine efficiency by around 30 per cent, which would be very beneficial to hauliers and freight users as well as helping the UK Government to meet its legally binding climate change targets.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Road user charging potential solution to transportation problems
    December 14, 2012
    A number of new and highly significant open road tolling schemes have just been launched or are soon to ‘go live’. Systems of road user charging are flexing their muscles as the means to solve politically sensitive transportation problems, reports Jon Masters. Gothenburg, January 2013, will be the time and place for the launch of the next city congestion charging scheme in Europe. In a separate development, Los Angeles County’s tolled Metro ExpressLanes began operating in November 2012 – the latest in a ser
  • Liverpool plans to boost cyclist numbers
    June 5, 2014
    An extra 30,000 residents will be cycling in UK city Liverpool over the next three years according to city council projections, as authorities make cycling easier and more convenient in the city. The city's strategy, titled the Liverpool Cycling Revolution, includes targets of getting 15 per cent of the city's population to cycle at least once a month, and ten per cent to cycle every week. As well as the positive impacts on residents' health, the strategy is expected to help the city reach its goal of cu
  • South Africa launches electric vehicle pilot programme
    February 28, 2013
    South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has launched a zero emission electric vehicle pilot programme, which would see it trial a fleet of electric vehicles. Speaking at the launch, water and environmental affairs minister Edna Molewa said the multi-stakeholder partnership project would pilot, test and demonstrate the viability of electric vehicles under South African conditions. The pilot programme would also serve to determine end-user, infrastructure and running costs associated with loc
  • Measures announced to improve cycle safety in London
    September 5, 2013
    A series of recently-announced measures to improve cycle safety in London include the establishment of a new industrial heavy goods vehicle (HGV) task force to take direct action against dangerous HGV drivers, vehicles and operators, review exemptions to current HGV regulations and a call for European Union to speed up its review on the design of HGVs to increase drivers’ visibility of vulnerable road users. In addition, the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Driving Standards Agency are to issue a c