In July 2023, the European Commission published a proposal for CountEmissions EU, a harmonised framework for calculating greenhouse gas emissions from transport services in freight and passenger transport. The aim of this framework is to achieve comparable estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from specific transport services so that carriers and shippers/passengers can base their transport decisions on more reliable and consistent emissions data. In addition, the Commission hopes that the CountEmissions EU framework will encourage the use of ‘carbon footprinting’ for transport services, making this information available to more transport services.
CE Delft supported the European Commission (DG MOVE) in the development of the CountEmissions EU regulations by conducting the Impact Assessment. This included identifying the issue that CountEmissions EU should address, the options for doing so and the advantages and disadvantages of these different options. Subsequently, the economic, social and environmental impact was calculated for six policy options. This allowed a preferred variant to be identified, which was eventually adopted by the Commission as the basis for their legislative proposal.
The focus of the final CountEmissions EU proposal is on a common methodology for calculating greenhouse gas emissions from transport services. All parties in Europe that calculate and communicate greenhouse gas emissions from their transport services in Europe would be required to use this methodology. Parties would preferably use actual data for the transport service, but alternatively default data from a central EU database may also be used. Large companies are also required to have their calculations and results verified by independent bodies. External calculation tools that may be used by parties for calculations should also be certified.