The CEOs of 30 leading European trailer manufacturers have signed a joint declaration and petition calling on the European Commission and European Parliament to review and adjust Regulation (EU) 2024/1610.
The industry supports the EU’s climate goals but warns that the current VECTO methodology could raise emissions, cost jobs and lead to further deindustrialization.
The manufacturers met in Koningshooikt near Lier last week, signing the declaration in the presence of Members of the European Parliament Kris Van Dijck of Belgium and Jens Gieseke of Germany. Companies that normally compete for the same customers and contracts spoke with one voice, arguing that the rules as designed could increase CO₂ emissions rather than cut them.
Concerns over trailer CO₂ methodology
Regulation (EU) 2024/1610 extends CO₂ standards to trailers, despite trailers emitting no CO₂ directly. Manufacturers are held responsible for simulated emissions calculated by the VECTO tool, which uses standardised reference loads and duty cycles.
The signatories say the methodology does not reflect the operational realities of European road transport, including the diversity of trailer applications, real payload and loading requirements, and the rapid rise of zero-emission tractor units.
Their central warning is that meeting the targets could push manufacturers towards design changes that reduce usable loading capacity. This could result in more trips, more empty runs and more vehicles on the road to move the same volume of goods — and therefore more CO₂, rather than less.
From 2030, an exceedance premium of €4,250 per gCO₂/tkm above target, multiplied by each registered vehicle, would expose manufacturers to annual penalties in the millions. Around 70,000 jobs across Europe depend on an economically viable trailer industry.
Five requests
The petition sets out five requests:
- Bring the Article 15 review forward from 2027 to 2026, publish the reference values immediately after monitoring, and lower fleet targets to achievable levels, for example 5% from 2030, phased in.
- Phase in fleet targets from 1 July 2030 to avoid market distortions and foreseeable job losses.
- Introduce a moratorium on penalties and adjust the penalty level, which the manufacturers say is out of all proportion to the market price of the vehicles.
- Overhaul the VECTO tool for trailers so that vehicles with comparable purposes are compared fairly and the growing share of zero-emission tractors is taken into account. Targets and levies should fall in line with the market penetration of zero-emission tractors and disappear entirely once these reach a 70% market share.
- Recognise that the planned credit-and-debit system is largely ineffective within the current timeframe because the necessary trailer technologies cannot reach the market at scale fast enough.
Decarbonization must not become deindustrialization. The answer is not to abandon climate ambition. It is to make sure our policies are based on reality, on technology that exists, and on outcomes that can actually be achieved. That is why I support a serious review of the current methodology, not because we want weaker rules, but because we want rules that reduce emissions and strengthen European industry,
said MEP Kris Van Dijck.
European industry cannot be told to lead the green transition while we make it impossible to compete. The trailer sector is ready to deliver, but the targets have to be technically achievable. We need an evidence-based review now, in 2026 — not in 2027, when the damage may already be done,
said MEP Jens Gieseke.
Today thirty competitors put their rivalry aside to send Brussels a single message. We are not asking for less climate protection. We are asking for rules that cut emissions instead of penalizing manufacturers for a flawed simulation. The Article 15 review must be brought forward — every month of delay costs investment, jobs, and credibility,
said Gero Schulze Isfort, spokesman for the German coalition of eight leading European trailer manufacturers.
The joint declaration and petition were signed by the CEOs of 30 European trailer manufacturers.
