NGV 2014 Brussels kicked off

This week has seen NGV2014 Brussels the ‘5th International Show & Workshops’, open its doors.

Tuesday activities kicked off in the early morning with the EU breakfast debate themed ‘The methane for transport (r)evolution – where does Europe stand?’.

The meeting brought together high-ranking EU decision makers such as Director General of DG MOVE Joao Aguiar Machado and leading representatives of the NGV industry. Overall, participants agreed that natural gas will play a key role in a diversified energy mix fueling Europe’s transport and also conformed to the fact that an orchestrated effort involving politics and industry will be necessary in order to further push the development of the European NGV market.

Tuesday also saw the opening of the workshop section. NGVA Europe Secretary General Lennart Pilskog and Didier Hendrickx, representing the Belgian NGV association, addressed the main objectives of the industry and set up the scenario for future developments and growth in Belgium and in Europe. “This is the time when we have to act, the journey have just started,” Pilskog emphasized.

Among the prominent speakers of the first workshop titled ‘Successful Policies’ was Magdalena Kopczynska, Director for Innovative and Sustainable Mobility in the EC’s DG MOVE. Kopczynska emphasised that NGVs today are not science fiction but represent a mature technology ‘ready to go’ that shall be further applied in order to fulfill the EU targets in terms of reducing dependency on oil and diminishing GHG emissions.

In the early evening, Brussels Kart Hall 1 hosted the event’s Opening Ceremony. The keynote speech was delivered by the EC Vice President and Commissioner in charge of transport Siim Kallas. In his speech the Commissioner stressed the importance of the EU’s recently approved Directive on the Deployment of Alternative Fuels and the relevance it has for the growth of the European NGV market. Even though the Commission and the NGV industry were hoping for even more ambitious targets, the approved Directive nonetheless provides a very solid basis for NG to play a major role in reaching the EU climate goals whilst creating creating new jobs for Europe, Kallas pointed out before officially inaugurating NGV2014 Brussels by cutting the ribbon.

[mappress]
Press Release, July 9, 2014