IRU, CLECAT, European Shippers' Council (ESC) and Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA), representing industries road transport, shipping and cold logistics, invited the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to avoid the introduction of mandatory targets for the demand for zero-emission trucks, warning that these measures risk jeopardising Europe's green transition if on the other hand, the conditions favorable to the purchase of these means. In particular, in a joint letter, the four associations have warned that the introduction of obligations on the will have the effect of slowing down the progress driven by from the market and will create unnecessary pressure on operators and Freight forwarders.

'Any EU initiative to renewing road freight fleets - noted Nicolette van der Jagt, Director General of CLECAT - focus on creating favourable conditions for operators can use zero-emission vehicles, rather than than imposing purchase targets. Imposing such targets without addressing infrastructure gaps would force operators to to buy vehicles without the possibility of using them. This would not only entail significant burdens, but would reduce effectiveness, efficiency and competitiveness of European operators".

The signatories of the declaration stressed that binding purchase or would impose disproportionate costs on companies which carry out road transport, in particular at the expense of SMEs and micro-enterprises representing more than 95% of the 600,000 operators in the road haulage sector in Europe, with consequent cascading compliance costs throughout the supply chain sourcing and impact on smaller companies less able to absorb them.

The signatories rather ask targeted purchase incentives to make trucks zero-emission more accessible, an acceleration of investment in public and depot charging infrastructures and a framework consistent financial structure that reinvests revenues from instruments such as the Eurovignette and ETS 2 directly in decarbonisation of road transport.