German government reportedly split over EU car emission limits
The members of the German government disagree over the country’s position on future EU car emission limits, according to media reports. The ministries of economic affairs and transport both reject the environment ministry’s call for more ambitious targets, reports Jens Tartler in Tagesspiegel Background. Government sources told the author that economic affairs minister Peter Altmaier and transport minister Andreas Scheuer even wanted to water down the European Commission’s proposal to protect the German car industry. Tartler says the finance ministry supports more ambitious targets, because it wants to avoid spending billions on CO2 certificates in case Germany misses its climate targets.
The environment ministry says car emissions must be halved between 2021 and 2030 for Germany to reach its climate targets, and to secure the future of the country’s mighty car industry. The European Commission has proposed a 30 percent reduction only.
Read a Handelsblatt report on this topic in German here.
For background, read the article German environment ministry pushes for tougher EU car emission rules.