The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), established by the European Commission, guides economy-wide emission reductions by setting a limit on the quantity of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that can be produced by the industries it covers each year. Amendments that took effect early this year are designed to better align the program with the European Union’s net-zero emission target for 2050. Regarding aviation, these changes set a useful example for other regions looking to deploy sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs). Utilities and heavy industry (“stationary installations”) were the first s ..read more

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In 2022, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN agency governing civil aviation worldwide, agreed to a goal to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from international aviation by 2050. This ambitious goal will likely require up to US $5 trillion in investments in clean aircraft and fuels. Governments and industry have begun implementing the agreement. Since that work has started, how’s it going? The ICCT’s Aviation Vision 2050 report analyzed the technologies and policies needed to achieve net-zero aviation by 2050. The study projected airline CO2 emissions ..read more

With the release of the eligibility guidelines for the U.S. sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act delayed once more, let’s take some time to explore a key part of the debate about the models (and models within models) that will be used. In upcoming guidance, regulators are slated to decide whether recent updates to the GREET model are sufficient for the model to be used in determining the eligibility criteria for defining SAF. (This and other decisions pick up where the prior guidance left off and GREET has not been approved yet.) Here we’ll focus on the ..read more

Berlin, 10 April — Today, in a landmark achievement, the European Parliament approved a mandatory target to reduce 90% of CO2 emissions from new trucks by 2040. The regulation raises the ambition of previous EU legislation and widens the scope of vehicles covered, setting the stage for one of the world’s most robust regulatory climate frameworks for heavy-duty vehicles. “What seemed inconceivable just years ago is now the unequivocal path forward. This historic legislation offers clarity to industry, leveraging zero-emission heavy vehicles as the most technologically feasible and cost-effectiv ..read more

It’s becoming an annual occurrence during the winter months that schools across north India are forced to close mid-session due to severe air pollution. This disruption of education is just another example of why it’s crucial to reduce vehicle tailpipe emissions. About 90% of India’s transport sector emissions come from road transport and tailpipe emissions typically include oxides of nitrogen, sulfur, and carbon.   This issue was discussed during a day-long National Workshop on Low-emission Zones in Cities convened by the ICCT and NITI Aayog, the apex public policy think tank of ..read more

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(Washington, DC) (March 29, 2024) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted final Phase 3 greenhouse gas emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, originally proposed in April 2023. The new standards move the United States closer to achieving domestic and international climate goals by requiring manufacturers to deploy more efficient vehicles beginning in model year (MY) 2027, including more efficient internal combustion engines and electric drive powertrains. The specifics of the rule can be found here. The finalization of this rule comes at the tail end of a multi-yea ..read more

Last week, the Clean Freight Coalition (CFC), a group that includes truck dealers, freight carriers, and others in the U.S. trucking industry, dropped an attention-grabbing report suggesting that $1 trillion of investment in charging infrastructure would be needed to electrify 100% of the nation’s truck fleet. But as I’ll explain here, serious shortcomings in the analysis led to this inflated estimate, and it’s likely too high by an order of magnitude. For a quick gut check, let’s look to an industry leader, Daimler Truck North America, which has provided the only complete analysis of commer ..read more

This piece was originally published in the Hindustan Times. This past February, Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) announced that the Government of India will soon have a tender to transition national highway tolling from FASTag to a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for seamless traffic flow. Most new cars in India today come with a built-in GNSS (popularly understood as GPS) for tracking and emergency services, and MoRTH has mandated GNSS devices in public service vehicles since 2019. Although GNSS is only intended for tolling for now, the potential appl ..read more