Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure

The Europe 2020 strategy for a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, in its Flagship Initiatives "Resource efficient Europe" and "Innovation Union", aims at tackling the social challenges like climate change, energy and resources scarcity, at enhancing competitiveness and meeting the energy security by more efficient use of resources and energy.

In line with this strategy, the White Paper "Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a Competitive and Resource Efficient Transport System" called for breaking the oil dependence of transport and set a target of 60% greenhouse gas emissions reduction from transport by 2050. It announces that the Commission will develop "a sustainable alternative fuels strategy including also the appropriate infrastructure" (Initiative 24) and issue "guidelines and standards for refuelling infrastructures" (Initiative 26).

The Commission Communication on a European alternative fuels strategy evaluates the main alternative fuel options available to substitute oil whilst contributing to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport, and suggests a comprehensive list of measures to promote the market development of alternative fuels in Europe, complementing other policies for reducing oil consumption and GHG emissions from transport.

The main alternative fuel options are electricity, hydrogen, biofuels, natural gas (in the forms of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), or Gas-To-Liquid (GTL)), and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

Lack of alternative fuel infrastructure and of the common technical specifications for the vehicle-infrastructure interface is considered a major obstacle to the market introduction of alternative fuels and consumer acceptance.

This proposal for a Directive aims at ensuring the build-up of alternative fuel infrastructure and the implementation of common technical specifications for this infrastructure in the Union. Its objective is to facilitate the work of market forces and contribute with this initiative to economic growth in Europe.

See also Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Clean power for transport: A European alternative fuels strategy

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)18: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:018:FIN

EUR-Lex: SWD(2013)5: Impact assessment http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2013:005:FIN

EUR-Lex: SWD(2013)6: Executive summary of the impact assessment http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2013:006:FIN

ESO: Background Information: EU launches clean fuel strategy http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-eu-launches-clean-fuel-strategy/

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