Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, IVECO and ENGIE announce collaboration to promote natural gas in Europe starting from Belgium
FCA, IVECO and ENGIE welcome and support the recent announcement made by the Government of Wallonia, with whom a cooperation has been carried out over recent months, to promote and develop the use of alternative fuels (CNG and LNG mainly) in terms of infrastructure and vehicles.
At the “Salon de l’Auto” in Brussels, the Minister of Mobility and Environment announced a program for the improvement of air quality in Wallonia. In line with COP 21, the Walloon strategy envisages that 50% of its public fleet vehicles, in need of replacement, will run on alternative fuels starting from January 1, 2017, and the percentage will rise to 100% starting from January 1, 2030. The Government of Wallonia also set a new regulation to promote the development of CNG infrastructure. This was prompted by the high profile Italian case, which has seen the country roll out a series of CNG refueling stations throughout its territory.
The partnership between FCA, IVECO and ENGIE has been formalized by a long-term Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with the aim of cooperating together to offer all stakeholders (public and private) complete solutions for alternative fuels based on natural gas.
The extensive cooperation set out in the MoU includes several European Countries such as Italy, Romania, France and the Czech Republic and various areas of activities, like in-site fuel stations, R&D collaboration, cooperation with Governments and private stakeholders to develop CNG within the European DAFI, and the European project Connect2LNG.
Transportation is responsible for 22% of CO2 emissions in the world (and even 30% in Europe); 95% of the energy consumed by this sector comes from oil. Today, the transformation to mobility that is less CO2 emitting, less polluting, and more fluid is essential, particularly in cities where three out of every four persons will live by the year 2050. To meet this challenge, ENGIE is developing urban planning advisory activities, solutions for public transport (electrification, signal system installations, service optimization), alternative fuels (including electric mobility and natural gas) and digital platforms to improve traffic fluidity.
Source and more information: Engie
