Successful start of CO2 Tolling in Germany
On 1st of December 2023, the law on CO2 variation of the toll for all vehicles from 7.5t subject to toll entered into force in Germany.The required changes to the German LKW-Maut system have been prepared and implemented by the German Toll Charger BALM and the National Service Provider Toll Collect. The EETS Providers accredited in Germany have also collected vehicle data and calculated CO2 classes for the vehicles of their customers. Germany is the first country that has successfully introduced the CO2 based tolling for trucks according to the definition in the Eurovignette Directive.
All vehicles, that are subject to toll in Germany (currently vehicles or vehicle combinations intended or used for the carriage of goods with a technically permissible maximum laden mass of 7.5t or more) will be assigned one of five CO2 emission classes as defined in the Directive. Additionally, from 1st of July 2024 vehicles with a technically permissible maximum laden mass of more than 3.5t will become subject to toll. The previous Euro pollutant class of the vehicle remains unchanged. Zero-emission vehicles are exempted from tolls until December 31, 2025 and zero-emission vehicles with a technically permissible maximum laden mass up to 4.25t are exempted permanently.
The introduction of the additional external cost charge for CO2 is seen as a further instrument for climate protection in road freight transport, as commercial vehicles currently produce around one third of total CO2 emissions in the transport sector. The German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) expects additional revenues of 26.6 billion euro in the period 2024 - 2027 as a result of CO2 differentiation in the area of trucks weighing 7.5t or more. These toll revenues will be earmarked for improvng the federal highway infrastructure and for measures in the mobility sector - the focus being on federal railroads. The additional revenue from extending the toll to trucks weighing more than 3.5t will amount to 3.9 billion euros over the same period. Of this, 1.8 billion euros will come from CO2 differentiation.
Further information on determining the CO2 emission class and the emission class finder can also be found at:
https://www.toll-collect.de/en/toll_collect/rund_um_die_maut/co2_emissionen/co2_emissionen.html