The European Parliament has voted to use an urgent procedure to amend the way of calculating emission credits for heavy-duty vehicles for the 2025–2029 reporting period. The decision will accelerate changes to the regulation governing CO₂ standards for trucks and buses. For lawmakers, the adjustment is necessary to provide certainty for vehicle manufacturers, while opponents argue that the move could undermine the EU’s climate targets.
The voting is related to the regulation governing CO₂ emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, which the EU established as part of its efforts to decarbonise the road transport sector.
Under the current framework, manufacturers must meet progressively stricter emission reduction targets, with compliance assessed through a system of emission credits linked to vehicle performance.
EU truck emissions standards
Heavy-duty vehicles—including trucks, buses and coaches—account for a significant share of emissions from road transport in Europe. While they represent a relatively small proportion of vehicles on the road, they produce a disproportionate amount of transport-related greenhouse gas emissions.
In response, the EU introduced binding CO₂ emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles in 2019. These rules have strengthened several times since then as part of the bloc’s wider climate policy framework, including measures aimed at achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
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The credit system plays an important role in this framework. Manufacturers can offset higher emissions from some vehicles by producing others that emit less CO₂, including zero-emission trucks.
Providing certainty for industry
The European Parliament made this change in response to arguments from heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers that the industry requires greater regulatory certainty regarding CO₂ emissions standards. The sector is undergoing a major transition as companies rapidly introduce zero-emission technologies into their heavy-duty fleets.
Road transport is among the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. For this reason, regulating CO₂ emissions from heavy-duty vehicles is considered a key element of the bloc’s strategy to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
The Parliament can now move quickly. After the plenary vote, negotiations with the Council will begin.
The change would apply specifically to how emission credits are calculated during the 2025–2029 period — a critical timeframe for reducing emissions from heavy transport before zero-emission technologies become more widespread.
