As of 19 June 2026, Brent crude is trading at around USD 80 a barrel, its lowest level since early March. Brent is now broadly flat year on year. At the pump, the relief is starting to show: the EU weighted diesel average has eased to EUR 1.783 a litre, now just 9% above the 27 February baseline. The US average diesel price has fallen to USD 1.354 per litre. Here’s the latest overview for the road transport sector.

IRU Secretary General Umberto de Pretto has been in the road transport industry for over 30 years. As he prepares to hand over the reins, we sat down with him to reflect on those three decades. The first part of the interview looks at the industry. The second is on IRU itself.

As new powertrain technologies emerge and EU policies push towards zero-emission vehicles, operators face growing pressure to make the right long-term fleet investments. IRU member AFTRI, the French International Road Transport Association, helped us unpack the key factors shaping those choices.

The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement to strengthen the Market Stability Reserve (MSR) for the EU emissions trading system covering buildings, road transport and additional sectors (ETS2), ahead of its full launch in 2028. The agreement backs the European Commission’s proposal to reinforce the existing safeguards designed to limit excessive carbon price volatility.

Protect the North American trade deal, modernise borders and keep goods flowing. That was the message from IRU’s recent North American Transportation Forum webinar. The discussion focused on the future of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), also known as CUSMA in Canada and T-MEC in Mexico, as the three countries move through the agreement’s six-year review process.

With new French electric truck subsidies in place since 1 June 2026, a recent IRU webinar explored the total cost of ownership (TCO) and CO₂ emissions of different truck powertrains in France. The webinar was accompanied by the release of a new IRU Intelligence report on the subject.

A new industry initiative is injecting fresh momentum into the uptake of eCMR, the UN digital consignment note standard, targeting interoperability across vendors, users and countries.