- Commission: new city buses must be emission-free by 2023
- NGEU: Court of Auditors does not rule out rework
- Proposal on debt rules could be delayed
- US and EU seek middle ground between TTC and trade deals
- EU and China resume talks on human rights
- Energy: Belgium and Germany expand transmission lines
- Breton to talk about grid costs soon
- Opinion: Human oversight done right
Dear reader,
The transformation to zero-emission engines for heavy-duty vehicles is expected to go fastest for city buses. Markus Grabitz analyzed the Commission’s proposal for carbon regulation of heavy-duty vehicles presented yesterday.
The European Court of Auditors wants to keep a close eye on the Commission and member states as they implement the NextGenerationEU construction program. In an interview with Christof Roche, Klaus-Heiner Lehne, a German member of the Court, says where he sees potential need for improvement.
The EU Commission could present its proposals for reforming European debt rules later than previously planned. It was said in Commission circles on Tuesday that the backdrop to this are the profound differences among the member states. So far, the authority wanted to present the package shortly after the EU summit at the end of March. Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis appealed to governments yesterday to reach a broad consensus by the summit. You can read more about this in the news section by Till Hoppe and Christof Roche.
Today, the shadow rapporteurs sit together for five hours to finally reach decisions on the AI Act. The EU’s proposed regulation relies heavily on the idea of humans monitoring AI systems to prevent harmful decisions in high-risk applications. But AI expert Johannes Walter explains in his opinion that this doesn’t work in every case.
Feature
Commission: New city buses must be emission-free by 2030
The transformation to zero-emission engines for heavy-duty vehicles is expected to go fastest for city buses. Starting in 2030, all new city buses in the EU are to stop emitting carbon. This is provided for in the proposal for the carbon regulation for heavy-duty vehicles, which the Commission adopted yesterday.
The Commission leaves one loophole: If the municipality’s terrain is mountainous and climate conditions are particularly unfavorable for e-buses, the Commission can grant the member state exemptions from the 100 percent zero-emissions rule from 2030.
Limit values are tightened
Buses and light trucks will be subject to carbon regulation starting in 2030. Until now, the regulation has only applied to heavy trucks. The Commission has adopted the following benchmarks for reducing the carbon fleet limit value per manufacturer, based on the reference year 2019:
- carbon emission
- carbon regulation
- Climate & Environment
- Climate change
- EU Commission
- heavy-duty vehicles
- Climate & Environment
- zero-emission
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