European Council Promotes 'Greener' Vehicles for Public Authorities
March 31, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
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On March 30, the European Council of Ministers adopted a new directive promoting clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles that are used by public authorities.
The directive requires that energy and environmental impacts linked to the operation of vehicles over their whole lifetime be taken into account in purchase decisions.
These lifetime impacts of vehicles shall include, at least, energy consumption, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and emissions of the regulated pollutants of nitrogen oxide (NOx), non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) and particulate matter. Purchasers may also consider other environmental impacts.
Taking into account these "external" costs in vehicle purchase decisions will contribute to the environment, climate protection and energy policies of the European Community by reducing energy consumption, CO2 and pollutant emissions.
The new measures extend to all purchases of road transport vehicles by public authorities or by transport operators charged with public service obligations.
The directive aims to stimulate the market for clean and efficient vehicles and to prompt developments and investments by the industry.
Increased sales will help reduce costs through economies of scale and will result in progressive improvement in the energy and environmental performance of the whole vehicle fleet.
Two options are offered to meet the requirements: setting technical specifications for energy and environmental performance, or including energy and environmental impacts as award criteria in the purchasing procedure.
If the impacts are monetized for inclusion in the purchasing decision, common rules shall be followed, as defined in the directive, for calculating the lifetime costs linked to the operation of vehicles.
To facilitate the implementation process, the European Commission also launched a web site on clean and energy-efficient vehicles. It includes a legislation guide, a lifetime calculator, information on joint procurement and references to European Community-funded projects in the field.
Source: European Commission (EC).