Iberian Association of natural gas for mobility
GASNAM
To act as the single Iberian platform for the promotion of natural gas as a vehicle fuel for road, railway and maritime transportation.
ID: 327820619585-36
Lobbying Activity
Response to Post 2020 light vehicle CO2 Regulation(s)
23 Mar 2018
The European Commission’s Mobility Package can play an important role in the decarbonisation of the European economy and the achievement of the Paris Agreement´s goals, but we would like that the Commission proposal to a assess the environmental benefits from the mobility solutions would have a more broad base approach. That´s why we understand that the well-to-wheel approach can guarantee a fair and complete evaluation of the decarbonization effects among different solutions, and it could be an important booster to bring in more renewable energy sources in the transportation sector in a cost-effective way.
We support the CO2 reduction potential that alternative and synthetic fuels already have, n other to gather the full potential of these fuels, CO2 reduction Regulation should consider the following:
• a technology neutral overall approach towards ambitious but achievable targets
o all alternative technologies, including both natural and renewable gas, should be recognized for their role in transport decarbonization that they achieve already today
o the regulations should not indirectly prioritize or prescribe any single technologies through tailpipe CO2 evaluation
• the currently-proposed tailpipe approach should take into account the GHG savings from renewable fuels, such as biomethane or synthetic gas and, therefore, must deduct this benefit in the monitoring and reporting phase
o renewable gas already offers GHG savings of around 80% from municipal waste and up to 95% from synthetic gas
o as such renewable gas should be prioritized in the legislations and natural gas vehicles should be classified as “Low to Zero emission vehicles”
• a regulatory transition to a Well-to-Wheel methodology in the medium to long term should be supported and achieved
• the definition of clean vehicles should be harmonized with the approach taken in the Directive for Alternative Fuels Infrastructure, focusing on all alternative technologies listed, which is technology-neutral and not based on CO2 values
PS: Natural gas contains less carbon than traditional hydrocarbon fuels and, therefore, emits much less CO2 as a vehicle fuel. Because natural gas vehicles start with cleaner fuel and have a very clean combustion process, it is easier to guarantee good emissions performance during the lifetime of the vehicle. For passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, natural gas emissions are 7% lower than diesel and 23% lower than gasoline; for trucks and buses, the reductions are between 6% and 16% . Additionally, natural gas vehicles are much cleaner in terms of local pollutants such as particulates, sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides.
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