European local and regional authorities urge the upcoming Romanian presidency of the EU to reach final agreement on the Revision of the Clean Vehicles Directive

On 17th December 2018, Polis, together with Eurocities and ICLEI, expressed the necessity that the Council of the European Union under the Romanian presidecy, prioritises the Revision of the Clean Vehicles Directive. The letter, signed by Karen Vancluysen (Secretary General of Polis), Anna Lisa Boni (Secretary General of Eurocities) and Wolfgang Teubner (Regional Director Europe ICLEI), drew the attention of the Deputy Permanent Representative of Romania to the European Union, Cosmin Boiangiu, on the necessity that the Romanian presidency concentrates efforts for a quick agreement of the Council before the European elections. The three networks argue that since emissions from transport have steadily risen, a substantial deployment of zero and low-emission vehicles is necessary to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. The organizations call for a commitment from the next President of the EU Council to swiftly finalize the negotiations on the Revision. This would in fact accelerate the process of increasing procurement of zero and low-emission vehicles across Europe and it would help cities to meet the 2011 White Paper target of CO2-free logistics by 2030.

The Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road vehicles (known as “Clean Vehicles Directive”) is currently undergoing a process of revision to better support EU policy objectives. It requires public bodies to consider certain energy and environmental impacts when purchasing road vehicles. The phase of consultation to gather inputs on problems to address and potential policy measures lasted from 19/12/2016 to 24/03/2017. The Directive aims at increasing the share of clean vehicles, making them more affordable to cities across Europe. The European Parliament has finalized their position during the plenary of 25 October 2018 however the Council has been lagging behind. Based on the two progress reports of the Bulgarian and Austrian presidencies, there is good grounds to achieve a final deal during the Romanian mandate.

The full text of the letter is available here. Further information on the Directive can be found here. For information on the consultation for the revision, go here.