CECE Secretary General presents decarbonisation potential of construction machinery at Innovatrix conference

• CECE Secretary General presents decarbonisation potential of construction machinery at Innovatrix conference

• Construction equipment contributes to only 0.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions across the EU

• CECE introduces key points of Position Paper on role of construction equipment in decarbonising Europe

• 4-pillar approach: machine efficiency, process efficiency, operation efficiency, and alternative energy sources

• Importance of considering whole life cycle of machinery

• Assessment of low or net-zero CO2 energy carriers must be based on full life cycle analysis

• CECE developed propositions on enabling factors addressed to EU policy makers

• Recommendations to EU policy makers: assess decarbonisation of full life cycle, coordinate with other regions, ensure availability of low or net-zero CO2 energy carriers, incentivise fleet renewal programs, facilitate decarbonisation of existing machinery, develop technology-independent objectives

Riccardo Viaggi introduced the role and the work of CECE in the context of European Green Deal setting a climate neutrality goal for the EU by 2050. The largest contributor to GHG emissions being CO2 for the construction sector, Riccardo underlined that construction equipment contributes to only 0.5% of the total greenhouse gas emissions across the EU.

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This Innovatrix second conference on the Design & Development of Zero-Emission Off-Highway Machinery gave CECE the opportunity to introduce the key points of the Position Paper on the role of construction equipment in decarbonising Europe. Riccardo thus highlighted the importance of considering the whole life cycle of machinery instead of building upon a machine-focused approach exclusively. He also explained that the Position Paper primarily draws on the 4-pillar approach: namely, machine efficiency, process efficiency, operation efficiency and alternative energy sources. These interconnected pillars need to be utilized in a coordinated fashion in order to be effective.

Riccardo went on to deal with the energy carriers offering low or net-zero CO2 solutions. The assessment of their respective advantages must be carried out based on a full life cycle analysis (e.g. considering production, distribution and storage). The key characteristics of these various energy carriers need to be further promoted on the political stage.

Regarding low or net-zero CO2 enablers, Riccardo emphasized that CECE developed propositions on enabling factors addressed to EU policy makers and he concluded his presentation by introducing CECE’s recommendations to EU policy makers:

• Assess decarbonisation of the full life cycle inclusive of the operations involved;

• Be developed in coordination with other regions of the world;

• Ensure the availability of low or net-zero CO2 energy carriers at acceptable costs;

• Incentivise fleet renewal programmes;

• Facilitate decarbonisation of existing machinery by making available low or net-zero CO2 drop-in fuels;

• Develop policy setting technology-independent objectives.