The impact of additional demand for electricity through climate-neutral mobility on the European carbon market (EU ETS) is an important element of a comprehensive LCA system analysis. That is way the consultancy Frontier Economics and the Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel) have presented a supplementary study to FVV’s last year cradle-to-grave life cycle analysis in the mobility sector (issue R595/2020):

Frontier Economics / IfW Kiel:
Carbon-neutral mobility powered by green electricity? How the power sector reacts to alternative mobility solutions. An assessment of energetic and regulatory effects on the CO2 emissions of alternative powertrain technologies and energy sources
Follow-up study | FVV issue R598 | Frankfurt am Main, Cologne, Kiel, 2021

The most important results at a glance:

• Detailed modelling of the EU power market and the EU ETS, demonstrates that charging needs of electric vehicles will, in the foreseeable future, lead to additional emissions in the power sector.
• The mechanisms of the EU ETS as they are designed today, will be able to dampen the increase in electricity-related CO2 emissions to a certain extent, however, they will not be able to prevent them.
• The CO2 emissions of synthetic renewable fuels or renewable fuels of non-organic origin (RFNBO), on the other hand, will be regulated much more strictly under the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II). As a result, the projected mitigation of a vehicle’s life cycle emissions will be much more effective. However, the regulation of the carbon sources required for the production of RFNBO will need to be explored further in the future.