The European transport sector is facing impactful challenges and changes with regard to the implementation of the Eurovignette directive and the increasing trends such as adoption of CO2-based tolls across the continent. For example, Belgium has several governments issuing tolls, such as the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels municipalities. And this is only within one country, which underlines the complexity of pricing freight tariffs.
These measures can be regarded within the context of the European Green Deal and push towards more sustainable transport. Nevertheless, they affect freight tariffs, which can contribute to inflation by making products more expensive. Green alternatives to road transport remain scarce and have not been implemented broadly.
The Eurovignette directive sets the framework for charging heavy-duty vehicles (also called HDVs) for the use of European road infrastructure. The purpose of this directive is to ensure that road transport companies contribute to the maintenance and improvement of the roads they use. The Eurovignette can be applied through time-based charges (vignettes) or distance-based tolls, targeting vehicles over 12 tonnes. Since 2011, a revision of the directive has aimed to focus on more eco-friendly alternatives.
With the rise of environmental concerns, the Paris climate accord and the European Green Deal, several European countries are adopting CO2-based toll systems. These tolls charge transport companies based on their vehicles’ emissions, incentivizing the use of cleaner technologies and reducing the environmental footprint of the logistics sector.
Germany has taken a pioneering role in addressing environmental challenges by implementing a comprehensive toll system in 2023. This system factors in CO2 emissions, noise, and air pollution, leading to an 83% increase in toll fees. Given Germany’s central location and its role as a major transit hub for freight routes from the Benelux region to Eastern Europe, this increase has had a notable impact on the European freight market. Beginning of this year other countries like Hungary, Austria and Czech Republic followed the German example.
For France the CO2 tolls are part of their broader EcoTax system, which will be expanded in 2025.
Sweden will also introduce a CO2 component to its tolling scheme in January 2025 for vehicles weighing over 12 tonnes, with a further extension to all vehicles by March 2027. Denmark is expected to follow in 2025 and the Netherlands aims to have implemented their system by 2026.
The EU has also urged sixteen of its member states (including Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Baltic countries) to speed up the implementation of the Eurovignette directive. Therefore, we can expect more comprehensive tolling schemes from these countries based on emissions and environmental costs.
This green shift adds complexity to navigating the already intricate environment of tolls and taxes in Europe. At Vedrova we keep a close eye on all the new legislations and try to forecast this as well as possible within our pricing schemes to avoid unpleasant surprises.
We are expecting a further expansion of CO2-based tolls. By 2030, the EU aims to replace time-based road charges with distance-based tolls that more accurately reflect environmental costs of road transport. This is why we encourage our carriers to invest in sustainable transport, like the electrification of trucks.
As mentioned before, the revised Eurovignette directive will enforce a shift from time-based tolling to distance-based tolling by 2030.
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