Publication

Position Paper: All that the NRMM Regulation isn’t.

Files

Regulations on Non Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM) are currently under revision by the European Commission and the European Parliament due to covid-19 crisis. In our Position Paper "All that the NRMM Regulation isn't and what it could be" we highlight how the development of new technologies for construction machinery opens up an opportunity for the EU to take the lead in the innovation of the sector. If only the EU would be willing to take the leadership.

The Non-Road Mobile Machinery Regulation is applicable since January 1st 2017 and covers a vast spectrum of machinery, not covered by other regulations. At the moment however, the EU does not regulate greenhouse gas emissions from non-road mobile machinery.

The NRMM Regulation goes far in terms of air pollution, but does nothing to meet climate goals.

At the moment the EU does not regulate greenhouse gas emissions from non-road mobile machinery.  In total, 5 stages for the regulation were in place, with the NRMM entering its last phase on January 1st 2019. This stage requires for all sales to reduce PM limits by 97% and HC and NOx limits by 94% compared to the Stage I rules from 1997 . The new regulations demand engines of NRMMs between 19kW and 560kW to be equipped with diesel particle filters. On the 2nd of June 2020, the European Commission proposed to delay the implementation of the NRMM Regulation’s Stage V for 12 months due to COVID-19. This proposal will fall under the responsibility of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee and will be voted on in plenary on Wednesday, 8th of July.

In our Position Paper “All that the NRMM Regulation isn’t and what it could be” we highlight how the development of new technologies for construction machinery opens up an opportunity for the EU to take the lead in the innovation of the sector. Doing so sooner rather than later is essential and delaying such a transition will only damage EU industry.

Therefore we call for:

  •  EU policy to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from non-road mobile machinery. As such, EU Policy should set targets for reducing CO2 emissions towards 2025 and 2030 by 2021.
  • EU policy must be in line with its commitment to become net-zero by 2050, and phase out diesel engines by mid-century, meaning the absolute last date to sell CO2 emitting engines will be in the 2030s, depending on the average lifetime of each NRMM. Accordingly, EU policy should push and incentivise only engines which have the potential to bring NRMMs to zero emission, such as batteries and fuel cells.
  • EU Policy to introduce economic means for zero emission NRMM like empowering and pushing public authorities to use their procurement power and thus create more demand for emission free machines.
  •  EU Policy to ensure that the delay of the implementation of Stage V of the NRMM Regulation due to COVID-19 would not hamper the long term decarbonisation of the sector. The EU is being offered the opportunity to be a first-mover in this field and to drive innovation.

Find our position paper here:

More publications

All publications

The status and future projections of LNG production and use in the Russian Arctic 

In the midst of a global discussion on whether natural gas should be used as a transitional fuel and whether emissions from its extraction, production, transport and use are significantly less than those from other fossil fuels, Russia has developed ambitious plans to increase its own production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic – a region with 75% of the country's proven gas reserves – to raise its share in the international gas trade.