Without Renewable Fuels, Climate Protection Goals in the Transport Sector Cannot Be Achieved

Without renewable fuels, the climate protection goals in the transport sector cannot be achieved. This is emphasized by over 50 associations and companies from the transport and energy sectors in an open letter to the federal government. They urge the federal government to advocate for the introduction of a Carbon Correction Factor (CCF) during the trilogue negotiations in the EU, which would take into account the climate-friendly effect of renewable drives on the CO2 fleet limits for heavy commercial vehicles.

(Verden) Without the CCF, the already deployed renewable fuels Bio-CNG and Bio-LNG will be pushed out of the market, and CO2 emissions from the transport sector will rise. With Bio-CNG and Bio-LNG, heavy trucks can already be operated CO2-neutrally in Germany today.

The Carbon Correction Factor (CCF) incorporates the CO2 emissions generated during the production and transport of the drive energy into the classification of new trucks. According to the previous regulatory approach, only the CO2 emitted from a vehicle’s exhaust is measured. “With the CCF, we expand the climate-relevant consideration from the production of the drive energy to the exhaust and thus for the first time capture a large part of the climate-damaging emissions from the use of heavy commercial vehicles,” explains Johan Bloemsma, Germany CEO of OG Clean Fuels. OG is a fuel station operator and offers all climate-friendly drive energies in several European countries: Bio-CNG, Bio-LNG, green hydrogen, HVO100, and green electricity (fast charging stations). In Germany, OG is the market leader in operating CNG filling stations. Large fleets such as those of DHL and Amazon are among OG’s customers, as well as medium-sized transport companies and small businesses. The Bio-CNG offered by OG in Germany ensures an immediate reduction of CO2 emissions by at least 90 percent. Depending on customer requirements, OG also enables climate-neutral logistics.

Effective Climate Protection Must Consider Drive Energy

“For climate protection and achieving the 1.5-degree target, it does not matter where the CO2 emissions from the operation of a truck occur – at the power plant, in the refinery, or at the exhaust,” Bloemsma clarifies. In the production of Bio-CNG from manure – as used by OG – more CO2 equivalents are removed from the atmosphere than are produced later during the combustion of the fuel in the engine. Therefore, depending on the waste and residual materials used, climate-friendly, climate-neutral, or climate-positive driving is possible. However, this extremely high climate protection contribution is not taken into account by EU regulation and German legislation. Due to the approval and toll regulations, gas trucks powered by Bio-CNG are treated just as poorly as trucks fueled with fossil diesel. Currently, we see that due to the political framework conditions, trucks powered by renewable fuels are being economically pushed out of the market. Entrepreneurs are therefore reverting to fossil diesel fuel. “The introduction of a Carbon Correction Factor could stop this fatal development for climate protection.”

Call to the Federal Government and Bundestag

“We call on the federal government and the members of the German Bundestag to stop this misguided path and to advocate for the CCF in European CO2 fleet limits for heavy commercial vehicles,” says the Germany CEO of OG Clean Fuels. This demand is supported by a multitude of associations and companies from all areas of the transport and energy sectors. “Such a joint call of this breadth has not been seen in recent years,” emphasizes Bloemsma.

Photo: © OG Clean