Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Lobbying Overview: The European Clean Trucking Alliance (ECTA) has strategic, positive engagement with climate policy in the EU. The coalition strongly supports ambitious EU heavy-duty CO2 emission standards, as well as other policy measures to accelerate the deployment of zero-emission trucks in Europe.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: The European Clean Trucking Alliance (ECTA) has positive top-line messaging on climate policy in 2022-24. The group supported the EU's Green Deal and 2050 targets in a May 2023 EU consultation response. ECTA also supports a wide range of policies to respond to climate change with a clear reference to the need for increased ambition, for example in a May 2023 position paper. ECTA does not appear to have directly expressed support for the Paris Agreement.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: The European Clean Trucking Alliance (ECTA) has positive engagement on the EU’s proposed CO2 emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles. In its May 2023 consultation response, ECTA urged policymakers to significantly strengthen the proposed CO2 targets for heavy-duty vehicles to a 100% zero-emissions target by 2035, and increased the proposed 2030 CO2 reduction target from 45% to 65%. ECTA also supported a 100% zero-emissions CO2 target in 2035 and the extension of the regulation to small trucks in a May 2023 position paper. ECTA further supported the standards in June 2023 and April 2024 joint letters, and welcomed the European Parliament’s vote on the standards in a November 2023 press release, and urged it to vote in support of the policy again in an April 2024 joint statement.
Positioning on Energy Transition: The European Clean Trucking Alliance (ECTA) has positive engagement on the phase-out of ICE powered heavy-duty vehicles, as well as on supportive policies promoting a rapid transition to zero-emission trucks in the EU. In a May 2023 EU consultation response on EU heavy-duty CO2 standards, ETCA advocated for an ambitious 2035 ICE heavy-duty phase-out target. It further supported the same 2035 phase-out date and enabling measures such as ZEV incentives and the expansion of charging infrastructure under the EU’s Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) in a May 2023 position paper. In a February 2023 Politico article, Martin Burgat, ECTA’s secretary, stated that “the pace at which zero-emissions trucks are being delivered is still too slow to deliver on the bloc’s climate ambitions”.
In a June 2024 position paper, ECTA supported heavy-duty vehicle electrification in the EU’s Greening Corporate Fleets proposed regulation with minor exceptions. ECTA also strongly supported more ambitious charging infrastructure targets in the EU’s Electricity Market Design Reform in a June 2023 position paper, and called for the use of zero-emission trucks under the revision of the Combined Transport Directive in a May 2023 position paper.
In a March 2023 press release, ECTA further advocated for an ambitious AFIR, including calling on members states to implement the infrastructure plans as soon as feasible, supported ZEV purchase subsidies and advocated for charging infrastructure targets post-2030 to be considered during the EU Commission’s planned review in 2024.