Which countries have implemented green road charging?

In our recent Electronic Tolling Europe Study, we were emphasising the radical evolution undertaken by the EU from “grey road charging” (i.e. only for the road infrastructure) towards “green road charging” (i.e. also considering the impact of road traffic on the environment).

The breakthrough has been triggered by the revised Eurovignette directive, which is currently being implemented by the 27 Member States.

As shown in the diagramme below, the changes will apply to Heavy Vehicles (trucks, buses and coaches) but also, from 2026, to Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs).

Based on our latest analysis, despite the challenges, 15 countries have transposed the directive in their national law. Many others are about to do the same, as the map below indicates.

The first to change were Germany and Austria, which became the “guinea pigs” of the new rules for EETS providers.

In a shocking move, Germany almost doubled its Lkw Maut between 2023 and 2024, mainly by applying surcharges for CO2 emissions.

Austria, although its road operator, ASFiNAG, is a publicly-owned concessionnaire that charges trucks using DSRC technology, it implemented the environmental surcharges as early as 1st January 2024! Now all trucks must pay charges related to the use of the infrastructure but also to air and noise externalities and to CO2 emissions.

However many other countries swiftly followed through, as the Directive is a “nice” way to raise more taxes while advocating the meeting of laudable environmental objectives!

For example, the Czech Republic, also subject to significant cross-traffic from haulage trucks, transposed the new rules as early as March 2024. Its HGV toll rates now vary depending on the vehicle’s number of axles, its environmental classification, its weight, and the road type.

Although the South of Europe, which mainly relies on toll road concessionaires, has not made the move, the example of Austria proves that the move to environmental road charging can also be implemented on concession roads. Of course, this will require a renegotiation of the contracts but it may be worth it for both governments – to raise more funds – and private road operators – to keep their concessions.

As France’s Transport Ministry is about to initiate a consultation on the future of its motorway concessions, this could be the right time to update the system and integrate environmental factors into the toll rates. The main concessions, mostly held by 3 groups, Abertis (Sanef, SAPN), Eiffage (APRR, AREA) and Vinci (ASFF, Cofiroute, Escota) are expiring between 2031 and 2036.

According to François Durovray, France’s Minister of Transport:

It is necessary to reinvent the concession model to respond to the needs of French citizen and the imperatives of the environmental transition and innovation.

Although these new charges will increase the cost of road transport and at some point lead to price increases, they will also serve the population. In effect, the rules will promote greener vehicles, which will reduce pollution further, thereby leading to less fatalities from respiratory diseases.

As a reminder, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the combined effects of ambient air pollution and household air pollution are associated with 6.7 million premature deaths per year globally.

According to the European Environment Agency, “air pollution is the largest environmental health risk in Europe, causing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases that lead to the loss of healthy years of life and, in the worst cases, to preventable deaths (…) In 2021, 97% of the urban population was exposed to concentrations of fine particulate matter above the health-based guideline level set by the WHO.”

This is encouraging to think that by “saving the planet”, we are also saving ourselves! Obviously each country will need to define the balance between economic considerations and environmental and health factors.

To obtain our detailed analysis of the implementation of environmental road charging, contact Frederic Bruneteau.