European Freight and Transport Firms Tell Brussels: Don't Weaken Truck CO2 Rules

A broad coalition of European transport businesses has sent a direct appeal to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her team of commissioners, asking them to keep the bloc’s heavy-duty vehicle CO2 standards intact and to leave the scheduled 2027 review where it is.

In their letter, the signatories describe themselves as companies and organisations already committed to cleaning up road freight. Many have poured money into electrifying their fleets, drawn by both the commercial upside and the chance to escape the swings of global fuel prices. What they say they need now is predictability — confidence that zero-emission trucks will keep arriving at prices that make those investments pay off.

The group argues that the CO2 standards are more than a climate instrument. In their view the rules underpin economic growth, energy security and the future competitiveness of Europe’s automotive sector, which they warn is in danger of falling behind in the global shift to electric drivetrains.

Any dilution of the standards, or an early start to the 2027 review, would erode the regulatory certainty investors depend on, the letter warns. The signatories point out that the rules were already adjusted once for the 2025–2030 window — a change they say could remove as many as 200,000 electric trucks from European roads over the coming decade — and argue that further tinkering would only deepen the damage. They couple their defence of the CO2 targets with calls to revise the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation and the Grids Package, so that high-power charging keeps expanding, private capital keeps flowing and the transition of Europe’s road freight sector stays on schedule.