A group of European giants including Nestle and Unilever is calling on Brussels to help them tackle the problem of road freight emissions. They want to see EU truckmakers being forced to mass produce zero-emission vehicles.
In a letter to the European Commission’s president they wrote: “The current supply [of electric trucks] in Europe is unfortunately nearly non-existent, forcing us to build our own vehicles or initiate our own pilot projects.”
This call underlines the challenges faced by companies that have pledged to cut emissions but have found they lack the tools to achieve that goal.
Earlier this year, the EU required CO2 truck emissions to reduce by 30% over the next ten years. However, the current regulations do not oblige manufacturers to sell a specific number of emissions free vehicles.
Around 5% of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU come from heavy-duty vehicles.