27 EU heads of state finally agreed on an increase of the 2030 climate targets to 55 percent greenhouse gas emission reduction. This decision, aimed at ensuring that the EU is on track for achieving its 2050 climate neutrality objective, will prompt the review of many regulations necessary to achieve the new 2030 target. This increased ambition will only be reachable if enabling technologies are available and deployed at scale. Technology has, and will continue playing, a fundamental role in EU’s journey towards climate neutrality by 2050. Whatever sector of the economy, technology is key, but technology alone cannot deliver. It entails massive investments to support research and development, and to construct the first-of-kind industrial projects and further scaling up. This in turn requires enabling policies to attract investors, and buy-in from businesses and consumers to create lead markets. The European transport sector has also started this journey. Transport is the backbone of the European economy and we need to ensure that our transport system, while progressively decarbonizing, remains competitive, energy-secure and affordable. The objective of reaching climate neutrality in road, aviation and maritime transport is clearly defined and accepted, but the trajectory to 2050 remains very challenging and requires making the right choices and decisions.
Low-carbon technologies include electrification, hydrogen, low-carbon liquid fuels, and probably others to come in the medium- or long-term. The public and policy debate is, however, oriented toward making early choices with exclusive effects. Electrification is presented as the only option for light-duty vehicles and a share of heavy-duty vehicles, while hydrogen complements the remaining heavy-duty vehicles and aviation. In addition, calls or announcements about bans of the sale of internal combustion engines (ICE) support the perception that technology neutrality has been discarded. Clean and efficient combustion of fuels based on renewable or captured carbon, utilizing Europe’s world-beating ICE and hybrid technology is ruled out. Surely, it is about reducing, and stopping fossil combustion emissions, rather than stopping all combustion technology equipment? Strangely, this is inconsistent with regulation of combustion in the power sector, where biomass combustion is defined as climate-neutral. Fuels produced from non-petroleum-based feedstock such as biomass, waste, renewables and recycled CO2 will enable EU transport to become climate neutral and contribute to the EU’s 2050 objectives. By 2050, every liter of liquid fuel would be climate neutral. Besides scientific and technical benefits, technology neutrality also ensures a fair competition between technologies, and plays a critical social and economic role in the EU. In the case of low-carbon liquid fuels in road transport, it will reduce, for instance, the pressure on infrastructure deployment for fully electric vehicles. It will reduce pressure on demand for critical raw materials. It will also accelerate the reduction of the carbon intensity of transport by reducing the necessity for fleet renewal and enabling existing and new vehicles to access low-carbon liquid fuels.