Report – Meeting with BDI
Ref. Ares(2020)2353814 - 04/05/2020
14 February 2020
Participants: Henrik Hololei (HH), DG MOVE
Deputy Director General BDI
, Head of Department Mobility & Transport BDI
, Director BDI Brussels
, MOVE A1
, MOVE A1
Summary: BDI had asked for the meeting with HH to exchange about the European Green Deal.
HH introduced the European Green Deal as key narrative of this Commission, mainstreaming all
activities in view of a carbon-neutral EU by 2050. Not all transport sectors will achieve the 90%
reduction target of CO2 emissions though. The planned Strategy for Sustainable and Smart Mobility
aims at reducing the environmental footprint of transport in general and at encouraging the use of
alternative fuels.
Concerning the reduction of emissions in road transport, HH stressed that we have to maintain
technological neutrality. The time pressure to achieve CO2-reductions pushed for electric mobility,
which is a good solution for the air quality in urban areas. But hybrids and hydrogen need to be part
of the solution as well. For long-haul road transport, gas could provide an alternative as a transition
fuel (as it does in places such as the U.S.). In maritime, LNG is the immediate solution as there is no
fossil-free option available for long-range maritime transport at this stage. For aviation, HH
announced a framework for SAF with mandatory blending targets and measures to support the
uptake of production. The rail sector could accommodate some more traffic with more efficient
organization of existing capacity. But beyond that, new infrastructure would be needed which is
expensive and difficult to build. The future needs to be a combination of regulatory measures, new
business models and behavioral change.
agreed that we need all available technologies to decarbonise (electric, hybrids, fuel cells, CO2
neutral fuels). He deplored that first DE was late moving into electric mobility and hybrids; then it is
entirely concentrating on electric mobility only. The energy mix in DE is today 20% of electricity and
80% (fossil based) molecule fuels. Although electricity will grow, we will not be able to invert this
ratio. That is why we need non-CO2 molecules for fuel on a massive scale. This is an area where EU
still has global technological leadership. BDI deplored that their Climate Path Analysis demonstrates
that modal shift has much less potential for CO2 savings than carbon-neutral fuels, but most
investment is going to it. He hoped that the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive will incentivize
the development of the latter. He also deplored that car manufacturers are hesitating to invest in
non-CO2 fuel technologies now in order not to jeopardise their electric vehicles (reportedly DE
automotive industry says that ‘e-mobility must succeed, otherwise they are dead’).
The development of carbon-neutral fuels would need massive investments. The main financial
burden of decarbonisation in general will probably not be for consumers and businesses but for the
public sector (investments in infrastructure, public transport, in public buildings). BDI also pointed to
the fact that a 90% emission reduction needs to include Carbon Capture and Storage solutions (CCS)
and energy imports from outside the EU.
BDI argued that the planned carbon border tax is not the most suitable instrument to maintain EU
products competitive on the world market. BDI has doubts about how to control it and HH would
prefer to use traditional trade policy instruments.
BDI promised HH an info package about Australia’s green hydrogen project for his visit to Australia in
March (Transport Dialogue).