CountEmissionsEU report adopted in plenary

15 April 2024: Last week, MEPs adopted the CountEmissionsEU report in plenary, constituting the Parliament’s position as first reading. The European Parliament adopted the report by 349 votes in favour, 243 votes against and 12 abstentions, constituting Parliament’s position at first reading. 

The current text does not oblige transport companies to calculate their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but if they choose to do it for reporting or marketing purposes, they should follow the provided methodology. If after repeated notifications the company refuses to correct the calculation or remedy non-compliance, it should face a proportionate and dissuasive penalty. The rules set the common metrics that would represent GHG emissions and allow to easily compare it. For freight transport that would be CO2 emitted per tonne kilometre, for passenger transport - CO2 emitted per passenger kilometre.

The Parliament’s position includes support to the measures and suggestions to broaden its application, Indeed MEPs ask the Commission to table, within two years from the entry into force of these new rules, a new methodology, which would calculate the GHG emissions with a lifecycle approach.

The file will be followed up by the new Parliament after the European elections on 6-9 June.

4 March 2024: On Monday, MEPs on the TRAN and ENVI Committees adopted their report on a single EU methodology for calculating greenhouse gas emissions from transport devices.

As a reminder, the draft rules are not mandatory for transport companies to calculate their GHG emissions, but if they choose to do it for reporting or marketing purposes, they should follow the provided methodology which is currently limited to calculating emissions stemming from the use of a vehicle (well-to-wheel) and does not count how much GHG emissions are produced from vehicles production, maintenance and disposal (life-cycle emissions).

Therefore, MEPs have asked the Commission to present a methodology of calculating lifecycle GHG emissions of all transport modes within two years from the entry into force of new rules.

Furthermore, in order to reduce the administrative and financial burden on companies wishing to calculate their emissions, in particular small and medium-sized companies, MEPs asked the Commission to develop a free of charge public calculation tool and suggested Member States introduce financial incentives to stimulate the use of direct measurements of GHG emissions instead of estimates or default values.

The draft rules also set the common metrics that would represent GHG emissions and allow easy comparisons. For freight transport that would be CO2 emitted per tonne kilometre, for passenger transport, CO2 emitted per passenger kilometre. The data should be disclosed in a clear and unambiguous manner and be substantiated by evidence available in a weblink or QR code.

The draft rules Committees will now be put to a vote at an upcoming plenary session and will constitute Parliament’s position at first reading. The file will be followed up by the new Parliament after the European elections on 6-9 June.

12 December 2023: Last week, the European Council adopted its position on the CountEmissionsEU proposal and retained the Commission’s general idea.

The Council highlighted the risk of duplication of rules for the accounting of greenhouse gas emissions under several pieces of EU legislation and facilitate implementation of the regulation by SMEs.

Member States raised their will to establish comprehensive and precise databases or defaults values for emission intensity and emission factors and be allowed to apply stricter rules on domestic transport operations (except those carried out by SMEs).

The only slight change of the text regards the empowerment of the Commission, as Member States wish to be closely involved in the implementation of the regulation.

The TRAN and ENVI Committees published their draft report on CountEmissionsEU and asked the Commission to provide the transport sector with access to ISO standard free of charge or at reduced rate. Indeed, the use of primary data should be mandatory in greenhouse gas emissions calculation processes, but SMEs should be allowed to use secondary data under clear conditions.

The rapporteurs are also proposing that proof of compliance issued by conformity assessment bodies should clearly specify whether concerned entities have used primary data. They also ask for the Commission to assess the impacts of introducing such a mandatory tool.

As the Parliament has adopted its position on the text, the negotiations can start on the final text.

25 July 2023: The Commission presented the Greening Freight Package on 11 July that includes a proposal for a Regulation on the accounting of greenhouse gas emissions for transport services, also known as CountEmissions EU. Following the proposal, the Commission opened feedback that will be open until 19 September (extended every day until the adopted proposal is available in all EU languages).

The proposal for Count Emissions EU will be a common framework for quantifying the greenhouse gas emissions of transport services across different modes. The initiative covers both freight and passenger transport operations and includes emissions stemming from hub operations. The CountEmissions EU tool will not be mandatory but any operator that commits to use it will have to adhere to the rules detailed in the proposal.

The European Commission proposes to use the methodology established by the new standard EN ISO 14083:2023 and prioritise the use of primary data, obtained during the carrying out of a transport operation, as well as secondary data (including default values and modelled data). The Commissioner confirmed that emissions calculation principles for transport operations will be based on the 'well-to-wheel' concept: fuel production and distribution, and the emissions produced when the vehicle is moving will have to be taken into account.

The Commission believes that a common methodology and harmonised set of default values are needed for reliable and accurate GHG emissions data. Indeed, harmonised metrics for emissions output data are necessary to ensure consistent measurement units when disclosing data on greenhouse gas emissions of transport services. All GHG emissions data as well as the underlying calculation processes will be verified. The European Commission will have the responsibility of adopting secondary legislation to amend or revise the standard, according to future needs or clarify the methodology.

Meanwhile, the Commission opened an eight-week feedback period allowing all parties to contribute in sharing their opinion. Once all the feedback has been received, it will be summarised by the European Commission and presented to the European Parliament and Council with the aim of feeding the legislative debate.

If you are interested in finding out more about CountEmissions EU or the feedback, or you would like to share your view, do not hesitate to write to alessia.affinito@eraa.org. ERA will prepare a draft response and will share with environmental representatives at the beginning of September.

14 March 2023: The CountEmissions EU initiative is likely to be adopted in the coming weeks. It interacts with the call for an aviation labelling system by the EU Parliament in the RefuelEU legislation. No mandatory reporting for airlines is required at this stage.

The CountEmissions EU initiative aims at creating a common framework to calculate and report transport related greenhouse gas emissions. The objective is to establish a European framework for the harmonised measurement of transport and logistics greenhouse gas emissions to facilitate the estimation of the carbon footprint for business and end-users.

1. CountEmissions EU progress:

• The EC is currently working on the impact assessment estimating costs and benefits of the various policy options.
• A report from the Open Public Consultation during March/April 2023 is going to be published.
• The plan is to adopt the legislative proposal on  21 June 2023 as part of the Greening Freight Package, subject to passing the internal EC scrutiny phase.
• The preference from DG MOVE is to propose a directly enforceable Regulation, which will be subject to “ordinary legislative procedure” (co-decision).
• The idea remains that there will be no mandatory reporting required for airlines. The methodology is based on available data and usage on voluntary basis.

2. Interaction of CountEmissions EU with RefuelEU aviation label, and EASA Ecolabel:

• There is recognition of the overlap between the various initiatives and DG MOVE is committed to avoid mismatches between them.
• According to current status, the broad lines of the labeling will be enshrined into the RefuelEU and details will be adopted through a Delegated Act. This Delegated Act is not expected to be finalised before end 2024/early 2025.
• This timing would allow some of the work from CountEmissions EU to be taken over in the Delegated Act on the labeling and avoid mismatch.
• The data to be used for the labeling system will be actual/existing data (ETS, CORSIA, SAF usage through reporting in Refuel).
• Data will be operational and based on city pairs, no plans at this state for aircraft label.
• Labeling will be based on last year averages (in line with SAF reporting) but DG MOVE would support more frequent reporting, on a voluntary basis to have more accurate data.