FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2026
Media contact: Roxanna Smith, roxanna.smith@globaldrivetozero.org
+1 510 326 0390
Expert contact: Sita Holtslag, sholtslag@CALSTART.org
Europe’s climate and industrial roadmap should remain stable and invested in e-trucks, e-buses, and infrastructure to maintain industrial competitiveness, send a clear market signal to investors, and shield economies from oil price spikes. Clean transportation accelerator CALSTART and its Global Drive to Zero program is today encouraging regulatory stability for EU CO₂ standards to help protect significant investments and progress made to date.
“Preserving ambitious, predictable and achievable targets is essential to drive investment, expand manufacturing capacity, and lower costs for operators. In light of the recent proposed regulatory changes as well as continued market growth, it is unclear if accelerating the planned regulatory review adds value and it creates uncertainty and risk. Affordable e-trucks are needed by European transport companies, which are vulnerable to oil price spikes that undermine our future industrial competitiveness,” said Sita Holtslag CALSTART/Drive to Zero’s Europe Director. “We should not create prolonged uncertainty around the standards and risk further delays in Europe’s transition to zero-emission trucks.”
Regulatory Stability Drives Investment
Regulatory stability is essential for manufacturers, fleets, and investors. CALSTART and its Drive to Zero program encourage policymakers to keep the planned review of the current CO₂ standards for HDVs in 2027 to allow the market to further develop. The standards have only recently been subject to a targeted amendment for the 2025–2030 period, which significantly adjusted the compliance curve and lowered the projected share of new zero-emission truck sales in 2030. Estimates were revised down from 31% to projections between 16% and 23%.
At the same time, recent market developments demonstrate that rapid progress toward the revised 2030 target remains highly feasible. Daimler Truck increased its electric truck sales share from 2.9% of regulated groups in the 2024 reporting period to 7.5% after the 2025 target came into effect. In addition, electric truck sales shares in Global MOU signatory countries such as Norway (12%) and the Netherlands (13%) already show that accelerated market uptake is achievable.
Taken together, these developments indicate that the planned review in 2027 is still the correct timing and will allow policymakers to assess progress based on real market data.
CALSTART’s Drive to Zero is working to accelerate the decarbonization of commercial vehicles through global partnerships, innovative tools, groundbreaking research, and education. CALSTART’s Drive to Zero co-leads the Global Memorandum of Understanding on Zero-Emission Medium- and Heavy Duty Vehicles — a community of 43 countries and nearly 300 subnational governments and private sector innovators working collaboratively to achieve 100% new ZE truck and bus sales by 2040.