EU tightens CO2 monitoring data rules for heavy-duty vehicles

The European Commission has adopted Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1282, which amends and corrects Annexes IV and V of Regulation (EU) 2019/1242 on CO2 emission performance standards for new heavy-duty vehicles. The act, signed in Brussels on 12 June 2026 and published in the Official Journal of the European Union (L series) on 21 August 2026, updates the data that Member States and manufacturers must monitor, report and publish. It enters into force on the twentieth day after publication, on 10 September 2026.

The regulation is grounded in Article 14(2) and (3) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1242, the 2019 framework that sets binding CO2 reduction targets for new lorries, buses and coaches. It responds to the extension of that framework by Regulation (EU) 2024/1610 to new groups of motor vehicles and trailers, and to technical changes introduced by Commission Regulation (EU) 2025/258 and the upcoming amendment to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1362.

New monitoring parameters

To improve the unequivocal identification of manufacturers, Member States must now report the name and the world manufacturer identifier (WMI) of the complete or completed vehicle manufacturers of category M vehicles. The “Additional information” table in Part B of Annex IV is expanded with new parameters covering transmission, axle, tyre, internal combustion engine, electric machine system, fuel cell and electric energy storage system manufacturers, as well as engine CO2 and fuel consumption values over the WHTC and WHSC cycles.

• Name and address, and make, of transmission, axle, tyre and engine manufacturers.
• CO2 mass emission and fuel consumption of the engine over the WHTC and WHSC test cycles.
• Type-approval numbers and simulation result files (.vsum) for vehicles simulated from 1 July 2020 and 2021.
• Parameters to identify and characterise specialised vehicles of category O.

Protecting commercially sensitive data

To safeguard commercially sensitive information, the regulation specifies that certain parameters held in the central register will not be made publicly available. It also clarifies the reporting obligations for entities other than manufacturers that are responsible for determining a heavy-duty vehicle’s CO2 emissions, and for technical services.

Corrections to the annexes

Part C of Annex IV and points 1.1, 2.1 and 2.2 of Annex V contained errors affecting the substance of those provisions, which the regulation now corrects. The amendments and corrections are set out respectively in Annex I and Annex II of the delegated act, which is binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

For manufacturers and national authorities, the regulation sharpens the accuracy and completeness of the data underpinning the EU’s CO2 standards for heavy-duty vehicles, supporting in-service verification and the risk assessment of vehicles under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/35. By expanding monitoring to new technologies and protecting sensitive commercial information, it underpins the credibility of the EU’s decarbonisation targets for road freight and passenger transport.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, 21.8.2026, p. 1 (official reference: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1282, CELEX 32026R1282).