A broad business coalition of 44 companies have signed a letter to the EC, including Siemens, Maersk, Unilever and PepsiCo, calling for a 2035 deadline to fully replace fossil-powered truck fleets.

Major truckmakers have already announced that half of their sales will be zero emission by 2030 and this coalition has said that some niche vehicle categories, such as construction trucks, could be given until 2040 to comply. The EC will publish its proposal for new truck CO2 targets in the coming months.

Michelle Grose, VP, global logistics and fulfilment, Unilever, said: “Decarbonising our logistics is crucial to reach our 2039 net-zero goal. As a cargo owner, we’ve made some great progress on limiting our emissions through critical efficiencies and reducing how many trucks we have on the road, but as an industry we can do more. Together with our EV100+ partners, we’re sending a powerful signal to the EC, and the wider industry, to set all new freight trucks on a path to zero emissions from 2035 onwards. The solutions to decarbonization are already here – but we need to scale up the supply of clean trucks.”

Higher CO2 reduction targets for truckmakers of 30 per cent in 2027 and 65 per cent in 2030 will also be needed to ensure that the supply of cleaner trucks ramps up in the second half of this decade, the companies write.

They also say that calls for fuel credits to be included in the truck CO2 targets should be resisted as they would not help solve the emissions problem of heavy-duty vehicles and would mix different types of laws, undermining their effectiveness.

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