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| March 2013 |
Clean Fleets Newsletter #1
Dear colleague,
We are pleased to send you the first edition of the Clean Fleets e-newsletter today! The project has just kicked off and we are looking forward to working with you over the next three years.
Happy reading,
Your Clean Fleets team
p.s. Also have a look at our brand-new website at www.clean-fleets.eu!
Does the EU Clean Vehicles Directive affect me?
When purchasing road transport vehicles public authorities and fleet operators in EU Member States need to comply with the EU Directive on the Promotion of Clean and Energy Efficient Road Transport Vehicles (2009/33/EC). The Clean Vehicles Directive was adopted in 2009 and has now been integrated in national law in all Member States. It requires that environmental impacts linked to the operation of vehicles over their whole lifetime are taken into account in all public purchase decisions.
There are different ways of fulfilling this requirement: Either through technical specifications, through award criteria, or by monetising environmental impacts. For the latter, the Directive defines common rules on how to calculate the operational lifetime costs for energy consumption, CO₂ and pollutant emissions (NOx, NMHC, PM) of vehicles.
The aim of the Directive is to harness the power of public purchasing and drive a market for higher standards of energy and environmental performance of vehicles. Economy of scale will reduce prices and drive a broad market introduction of clean and energy-efficient vehicles. This will in turn improve the environmental performance of transport, which accounts for about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU.
Get support in greening your vehicle fleet!
The Clean Fleets project assists you with the implementation of the Clean Vehicles Directive and the procurement or leasing of clean and energy-efficient vehicles. If we can give you advice and direct support with your tenders, please ! We are here to help you free of charge!
We will develop a toolkit and provide you with ample case studies and best practice examples. Over the course of the project, we will offer training workshops and study visits in various countries and organise a series of European workshops.
We will shortly launch a discussion forum, where you can post your questions, network and discuss your experiences with peers.
We will keep you updated about these offers!
London honoured for achievements on low-carbon vehicles
Transport for London (TfL), one of the partners in the Clean Fleets project consortium, has been honoured with two awards for its efforts to accelerate a shift towards lower carbon vehicles.
At the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership Champions Awards, TfL received the Outstanding Achievement Award for initiatives over the last decade, and together with Wrightbus a joint award for the manufacture of a new bus for London.
The judges have praised TfL as a world leader in the field of reducing emissions from transport. They highlighted the expansion of London’s hybrid bus fleet, supporting take-up of hydrogen and electric vehicles, and the introduction of the congestion charge and low emission zone. Read more.
Berlin purchases cost-efficient, clean police cars
Berlin’s police force purchases some 200 vehicles every year. Their most recent tender saw the inclusion of a number of environmental and economic requirements as recommended by the European Clean Vehicles Directive.
In addition to including some basic environmental criteria as a requirement, the contract was awarded based on the life-cycle, energy and environmental costs of the vehicles.
The environmental costs were calculated based on a) fuel consumption, b) energy consumption, c) CO₂ emissions, d) NOx, e) non-methane hydrocarbons and f) particulate matter. Read more.
Clear demand for procurement support
In the first phase of the Clean Fleets project, we have conducted a needs assessment to understand the demand for support from public authorities and fleet operators, and offer meaningful support accordingly. In January, we launched a call for interest together with an online survey. More than 200 people expressed their interest in the project and around 80 completed the user needs survey online. In addition, we have conducted more than 50 telephone interviews with representatives from public authorities and fleet operators.
We would like to thank everyone who has made time to complete the survey and/ or talk to us about your experience with the procurement of public vehicles and your views on what kind of support from the Clean Fleets project would be useful.
We are currently analysing the data but preliminary results indicate that awareness of the Clean Vehicles Directive varies greatly and the majority has not yet (consciously) worked within the new regulations. There is clear demand for support and guidance.
The Clean Fleets team
The Clean Fleets project is coordinated by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. The project consortium brings together a wealth of experience and know-how from cities, fleet operators, research and technical experts:
The Clean Fleets project is funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe programme.
The sole responsibility for the content of this newsletter lies with the Clean Fleets project. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EACI nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
The Clean Fleets newsletter is produced by the European Secretariat of ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability. Copyright 2013 ICLEI European Secretariat GmbH, Freiburg, Germany. All rights reserved.