GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM TRANSPORT

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), signed in New York on 9 May 1992, was ratified in Italy by Law No. 65/1994. The Kyoto Protocol, linked to the UNFCCC and signed in Kyoto on 11 December 1997, was ratified by Law No. 120/2002. It establishes a target of reducing total greenhouse gas emissions by 6.5% compared to 1990 levels within the commitment period 2008–2012. In Italy, the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), on behalf of the Ministry for the Environment and the Protection of Land and Sea, is responsible for preparing and annually updating the national greenhouse gas inventory in accordance with the required formats. This is carried out in line with Legislative Decree No. 51/2008 and Legislative Decree No. 30/2013, which establish a National System for the inventory of greenhouse gas emissions.

The White Paper on transport, including international aviation but excluding international shipping, sets a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2030 compared to 2008 levels, and by 60% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. Furthermore, the White Paper establishes the following objectives: the achievement of CO₂-free urban logistics in major urban centres by 2030; and, at the European level, a 40% reduction of CO₂ emissions from maritime bunker fuels by 2050 compared to 2005.

A new global agreement was reached in Paris in December 2015, applicable to the post-2020 period. The agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the increase in global average temperature well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 °C. The Paris Agreement entered into force on 4 November 2016.

To address the gap for the period 2013–2020, the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol was adopted on 8 December 2012. The EU and its Member States committed to this second phase of the Kyoto Protocol and agreed to reduce their collective emissions by 20% below 1990 levels or another base year. Italy ratified and implemented the Doha Amendment through Law No. 79/2016, which also defined a national low-carbon development strategy, established a National System for policies, measures and projections, and set out provisions for monitoring and communicating greenhouse gas emissions and climate change-related information.

Considering overall emissions from sectors not covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS)—including transport, residential, agriculture, and waste—the Italian reduction targets for 2020 and 2030 are established by the Effort Sharing Decision (Decision No. 406/2009) and the Effort Sharing Regulation (Regulation EU 2018/842), respectively. These targets are set at -13% and -33% compared to 2005 greenhouse gas emission levels.

Directive 2009/30/EC on fuel quality requires a minimum 6% reduction in the greenhouse gas intensity of transport fuels by 2020. With regard to the reduction of CO₂ emissions from vehicles, the targets for 2015 for passenger cars (Regulation EC No. 443/2009) and for 2017 for light commercial vehicles (Regulation EU No. 510/2011) were achieved already in 2013.

On 17 April 2019, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation EU 2019/631, establishing new CO₂ emission performance standards for cars and vans. The regulation has been in effect since 1 January 2020. Regulation EU 2019/1242, which sets CO₂ emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, entered into force on 14 August 2019.

The 2030 Climate and Energy Framework outlines EU-wide policy objectives for the period 2021–2030. Its key targets for 2030 include: at least a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 levels; a minimum 32% share of renewable energy; and an improvement in energy efficiency of at least 32.5%. The framework was adopted by the European Council in October 2014, and the targets on renewable energy and energy efficiency were revised upward in 2018.

Regulation EU 2018/1999 on the governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action sets out mechanisms and procedures to achieve the Union’s energy and climate objectives for 2030. Directive EU 2018/2001 establishes a common framework for the promotion of energy from renewable sources, setting a binding overall target. Member States must collectively ensure that the share of energy from renewable sources in the Union’s gross final energy consumption is at least 32% by 2030. To this end, they are required to set national contributions as part of their integrated national energy and climate plans in accordance with Regulation EU 2018/1999.

The European Green Deal (European Commission, 2019) foresees an acceleration of the transition towards sustainable and smart mobility. Among its key climate neutrality targets for 2050 are: a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector compared to 1990 levels; a strengthening of multimodality, in particular by increasing freight transport via rail and inland waterways—being the least carbon-intensive motorised transport modes; and the expansion of the production and use of sustainable alternative fuels for the transport sector.

In alignment with the EU’s objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels (the “Fit for 55” package), the revision of the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR), formally adopted by the European Council in March 2023, updated the national reduction targets for 2030 in non-ETS sectors such as transport, buildings, agriculture, and waste. For Italy, the revised 2030 target has been set at -43.7%.