Brussels, June 20th 2018 - The DSOs advocate for gas mobility as an important complement to electrical mobility. They call on EU policy-makers not to discriminate any alternative technology and have a consistent definition of “clean vehicle” among all the EU legislation. They pointed out a well-to-wheel approach should be implemented at European level instead of the tailpipe, since the latter is not taking into account the CO2 neutrality of renewable gas.

This approach considering the entire fuel supply chain from extraction to use is fundamental in order to provide a more realistic comparison of the climate and environmental impact of different fuels.

The event was opened by Pete Harrison, Director Transport of the European Climate Foundation, and Daan Peters, Managing Consultant of Ecofys. They discussed potential of renewable gas in Europe by 2050.

Alvaro Miranda, Director of Innovation and Strategic projects in the Community of Pamplona (Spain), said “biomethane is a clear example of local circular economy” and three buses using 100% of biomethane had been tested. Hervé Levifve, member of the cabinet Deputy Mayor of Paris (France), explained natural & renewable gas will be used to fight air quality issues and that diesel will be banned from Paris by 2024.

Geoffroy Peeters, Director of Institutional Relations of the FCA Delegation to Europe & representative of NGV Italy to the EU, said that well-to-wheel is the only approach to guarantee fair comparison, and that natural gas technologies are ready to switch to 100% renewable gas. Antonio Calvo, Sustainable Mobility Manager of SEAT explained the European market is already demanding CNG light-duty vehicles, since there has been a very important increase in the number of CNG number of cars sold.

Benoît Daly, General Secretary of Fédération Nationale des Transports Routiers (FNTR) underlined that the regulatory environment has to be technologically neutral to play on a level playing field. Clément Chandon, Head of Gas Development for EMEA market, of IVECO, added that gas is the only realistic alternative fuel solution for heavy-duty-vehicles.

Antonio Tricas, Policy officer from DG MOVE, highlighted European Commission commitment to eliminate technical barriers for natural and renewable gas as fuel for transport. Emmanuel Kujawski, political advisor of Karima Delli, Chairwoman of Transport Committee of European Parliament, stated that the solution of clean transport is not 100% electric, EU needs to have a real energy mix and pinpointed that the number of alternative fuel vehicles in Europe is still very low.