Hydrotreated vegetable oil fuel within the Fit for 55 package

Abstract

28 March 2023 the EU Council has adopted a regulation setting stringent carbon dioxide emission standards for new cars and vans. Under the new law, new vehicles with a 100 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions will be able to be registered after 2035. The new EU legislation sets the following targets: a 55 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions for new cars and 50 per cent for new vans between 2030 and 2034 compared to 2021 levels; a 100 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions for both new cars and vans from 2035. This will result in only electric or hydrogen-powered cars and vans being able to be registered after 2035. The fuel omitted from the Fit for 55 packages within cars and vans is hydrotreated vegetable oil. According to the research carried out so far, it is possible to replace diesel with HVO fuel even without interference with the fuel injection control system. If an internal combustion engine is fuelled with HVO fuel instead of diesel, the greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by up to 90 per cent. What is more, the technology for using HVO fuel has many more possibilities for reducing CO2 emissions, if only by refining the exhaust after-treatment process. The exclusion of this fuel from the Fit for 55 package raises serious doubts about the quality of the analyses based on which HVO fuel was not included in the Fit for 55 packages.