Merkel invites carmakers and suppliers to discuss shift to green mobility - media

The German government has invited major domestic car manufacturers and suppliers to Angela Merkel’s chancellery to discuss the technological challenges of the transition to renewable mobility, and what it will mean for jobs and the industry in general, reports Spiegel Online citing unnamed sources. Invited are the CEOs of carmakers Volkswagen and BMW, as well as suppliers Bosch, Continental and Schäffler, in addition to relevant ministers, union representatives and researchers, writes Spiegel. The summit is scheduled for 24 June.

Germany has not managed to lower emissions in the transport sector at all, but is supposed to cut its transport emissions by 40 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Conservative federal transport minister Andreas Scheuer has been widely criticised for not doing enough to facilitate the transition to green mobility, and has also been blamed for the failure of the country’s transport commission to agree on sufficient measures to cut traffic emissions earlier this year. Last week, the German states where carmakers VW, Daimler, BMW, Audi and Porsche, as well as countless suppliers are based, agreed on “intensive cooperation” to ensure that the “car of the future rolls off a conveyor belt in Germany.”