Following the provisional deal with the Council of 11 February, today the EP formally adopted the reform of the Clean Vehicles Directive (CVD). It will incentivise the market for zero- and low-emission vehicles by encouraging their use in public procurement.

The revision sets out minimum procurement targets for clean light-duty vehicles, trucks and buses for 2025 and 2030. The targets are expressed as minimum percentages of clean vehicles in the total number of road transport vehicles covered by the aggregate of all procurement contracts and public service contracts.

Under the new rules, by 2030 up to 65% of new buses will have to be ‘clean', as defined under the Directive on Alternative Fuels Infrastructure (DAFI). Half of this can be achieved through the use of natural gas vehicles. This enables also low GDP member states to be part of the transition very early, taking not only advantage of the low total cost of ownership (TCO), but also benefit from the highly competitive price of natural gas.

“During the negotiations, the benefits of the use of natural gas as transport fuel to achieve local air quality objectives has been recognized” – Andrea Gerini, Secretary General of NGVA Europe commented. “This should encourage cities and municipalities to include gmobility as cost-effective solution to renew their fleets. Natural gas vehicles contribute to increase air quality in cities, especially reducing NO₂ and PM/PN. On top of this, thanks to renewable gas, gmobility offers an easy way to accelerate the decarbonisation process.”

NGVA Europe now calls upon the Member States to evaluate and coordinate the synergies of this decision with existing policies. National plans are key to ensure that the new targets will be reached and to amplify the decarbonisation objective by blending a higher share of renewable gas such as biomethane.

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