The Zürich 5 Coalition is expressly committed to achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement and supports the EU’s ambition to become the first climate neutral continent by 2050. The ambitions of the Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal necessitate ambitious EU policy changes and the Coalition welcomes the Fit for 55 Package as it will further streamline EU action in reaching the 2050 goals.
In order to safeguard the effectiveness of the Fit for 55 Package, the Zürich 5 Coalition strongly calls on the European institutions to ensure that the package presents a coherent and complementary set of rules to ensure the conditions for biomethane to contribute to the de-fossilization of EU mobility. Existing methodology in individual legislation, now encapsulated in the Fit for 55 Package, is incoherent and thus in part counterproductive to the de-fossilization efforts in the EU’s transport sector.
In order to meet the goals of the European Green Deal, the EU needs to widen its technological approach and support all sustainable energy carriers. As emphasized by key Members of European Parliament from across the political spectrum, the green transition in the transport sector requires a balanced approach combining electric and fuel cell vehicles with prompt upscaling of other non-fossil, proven and affordable technologies. In particular biomethane can play a key role in de-fossilizing the EU road transport sector.
Biomethane is one of those key technologies.