Vehicles

Transport is an indispensable component of our society and of our life. It constitutes an important pillar of our economic wealth. But it should not be ignored that the road traffic in particular contributes much to the emission of air pollutants and climate gases. In spite of constant technical progress, the need for action in the field of freight and passenger transport remains.

On 23^rd April 2009 the European Community enacted the directive on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road vehicles (2009/33/EC), which commits purchasers of public authorities to consider environmental and efficiency criteria when purchasing vehicles. Apart from the energy consumption CO₂ emissions, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter is caused by the use of the vehicles during the entire life cycle have to be considered in the purchasing decision from 04^th December 2010 on.

In the vehicle sector, an efficiency label like those which are now well established in the electrical appliances sector (e.g. A+ refrigerator) has not been introduced by now because the differences concerning the comparability between various vehicles have been too pronounced. However, there are several other useful identifiers for the procurement of "clean vehicles".