The European Commission is working towards forms of green, smart, and affordable mobility. The Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy presented in 2020 together with 82 more initiatives is guiding the EU transport system on how to achieve its green transformation and become more resilient to future crises. As outlined in the European Green Deal, the result will be a 90% cut in emissions by 2050, delivered by a smart, competitive, safe, accessible, and affordable transport system.
The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's science and knowledge service, provides independent, evidence-based science and knowledge, supporting EU policies to positively impact society. In the field of CO₂ emissions, it contributes to policy goals through: pre-normative research and laboratory testing of light and heavy-duty vehicles; development of vehicle simulation models (VECTO); assessment of eco-innovations applications, CO₂ reduction technologies that are partially or not covered by the standard test cycle. The JRC performs EU fleet analyses to support CO₂ targets determination; it assesses the influence of vehicle technologies, auxiliaries (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), environmental and traffic factors, and driving behaviour in the energy and fuel consumption; it analyses future scenarios for transport CO₂ reduction pathways through the DIONE model. All these activities have contributed directly to EU policy.

In accordance with the European Green Deal goals, the European Parliament and the Council have reached an agreement on boosting the number of publicly accessible electric recharging and hydrogen refuelling stations, in particular across the European Union's main transport corridors and hubs. This is a landmark agreement that will enable the transition to a zero-emission transport sector.
The JRC contributes to the development of standards regarding vehicle-grid interconnections, energy distribution, and safety measures. Electric cars and trucks, as well as charging equipment, are tested in the Interoperability Centre for Electric Vehicles and Smart Grids. Through its electro-mobility modelling activities the JRC the analyses challenges and opportunities of a wider deployment of electro-mobility in Europe. All these activities aim at boosting confidence to bring e-mobility products to market.

Protection of the environment and improvement of air quality is an important objective of the European Union. In the automotive industry, EU legislation and standards aim to reduce the emission of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and hydrocarbons. Binding emission limits are already introduced for cars and light commercial vehicles (Euro 6) and Heavy-Duty vehicles (Euro VI).
The JRC works on improving the testing procedures for pollutant and CO₂ emissions, helping to assess the performance of vehicles under real-life conditions. The use of the Portable Emission Measurement Systems (PEMS) supports the measurement of pollutants emissions from combustion engines as the vehicle, or the equipment, in real-world in-use testing (RDE). All these activities contribute directly to EU policy development and implementation.

The Green Driving Tool developed by the JRC and aims at raising awareness of citizens' driving choices, supporting purchase decisions, and encouraging positive behaviour for the health of the Planet. Green Driving Users can make detailed simulations of their trips, during which they can see information about fuel/energy consumption values, costs of the journey, and CO2 emissions for the given situation. The users can then modify their choices and evaluate the impact of these decisions. The tool does not provide results for specific car models but synthetic values for vehicle types with chosen configurations. The tool has been validated against JRC test data; however, it may still contain minor inaccuracies. Please communicate to us any bugs or discrepancies you may notice. Additional features may also be integrated, so watch out for updates. Feedback and inquiries are welcome at