Tolling: the highway to green trucking

Briefing

UPDATE March 2024: T&E has published an update to this briefing to take stock of the Eurovignette implementation in EU member states.

Tolling in the EU is governed by the Eurovignette directive. While member states are not required to impose road tolls on vehicles, where they do, they must follow the EU directive. In 2022, the directive was reformed to help put cleaner trucks on the road and deliver much-needed emission reductions from heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs). Two years later, just after the deadline for countries with government-directed distance-based tolls to start varying charges by CO₂ (25 March 2024), T&E takes stock of Eurovignette implementation.

The requirement to vary truck tolls by CO₂ is the centrepiece of the reform. Member states that toll trucks by distance – and where governments have retained the power to vary toll charges – are best placed to deliver change. These countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The majority of these countries have carried out the reform in time. However Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia have not, and therefore need to do so as quickly as possible in order to comply with EU law. Lithuania (2024), Denmark (2025), the Netherlands and Romania (both 2026) will switch from time- to distance-based tolling systems soon. Denmark and the Netherlands have already passed laws to introduce CO₂-based tolling systems, while Lithuania and Romania are in full preparation to do so.

In summary, by 2026, distance- and time-based tolls varied by CO₂ are expected to be in force in 17 member states. This means that 62% of EU truck activity (measured in tonne-kilometres) will have a strong incentive to switch to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).

The most effective way to implement this reform is carrot-and-stick, that is to reduce tolls for cleaner trucks, and increase them for trucks that emit more. Incentivising cleaner trucks while at the same time disincentivising less efficient ones will most influence a truck’s total cost of ownership (TCO) and therefore, new truck purchases, a strategy that best reduces diesel consumption and emissions.

Overall, the Eurovignette revision is an opportunity-filled reform. Tolling according to CO₂ and charging for air and noise pollution will aid the shift to zero-emission trucks. Thanks to the breadth and depth of the revision, policy-makers are given the tools they need to match ambition on climate and other externalities to their domestic political and societal landscape.

However, as the deadline to vary tolls by CO₂ for countries with government-controlled tolls has just passed on 25 March 2024, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia need to reform their systems as quickly as possible in order to comply with the new directive, while Luxembourg and Sweden will have to do so within the coming year.

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