'End of car industry as we know it'/ EU criticises US sanction plans

German car customers are losing interest in diesel engines as the evolving emissions scandal and looming driving bans in many German cities take their toll on the once dominant technology, Focus Online reports. Diesel registrations fell by 9.1 percent in the first half of 2017, the Focus article says, based on figures by the Federal Office for Motor Traffic (KBA). Registrations of cars with petrol engines grew by 11.7 percent compared to the same period last year. Registrations of cars with alternative engines grew even more, reaching triple-digit rates, the article says. “In the long run, nobody doubts that the days of the diesel and ultimately also the petrol engine are numbered,” the article says, adding that “this process will still take several decades”.

Read the article in German here.

Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW and automotive industry supplier Continental contribute over 40 percent to the total revenue and one third to the profits of Germany’s stock index DAX, which comprises the country’s 30 largest market-listed companies, Daniel Eckert writes on Welt Online. “Anyone holding a Germany-equity fund” or an index-based pension fund “can almost be sure to be indirectly linked with one or more” of the car industry heavyweights, he says. The allegations over a possible cartel formed by VW, Daimler, BMW, Audi and Porsche “might cost the carmakers up to 19 billion euros, experts say”, Eckert writes. The carmakers themselves were “too big to fail” for Germany, asset manager Frank Wieser says. But this did not hold true for thousands of investors and smaller suppliers, he adds.

Read the article in German here.

See this CLEW article for Reactions to the allegations over a German carmaker cartel.

The sanction proposals directed at Russia, which the US House of Representatives will vote on on Tuesday, endanger the German-Russian gas pipeline project Nord Stream 2, writes Winand von Petersdorff in an opinion piece in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “Seldom have American lawmakers articulated so clearly that national commercial interests are more important to them than a fruitful cooperation with the European Union,” writes von Petersdorff. “The United States have no say when it comes to the European energy supply security. They should mind their own business.”

Read the opinion piece in German here.

For background, see the News Digest entries Germany and Austria say US sanction plans against Russia threaten Europe’s energy security and Merkel calls US gas sanctions against Russia “irregular behaviour”.

The G20 summits will continue to play an important role for climate protection, because “without the pressure on the political level, implementing and monitoring climate targets would hardly be possible in some countries”, write Susanne Dröge and Felix Schenuit from German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in a guest article for EurActiv. Germany should work closely with Argentina, the coming G20 president, to ensure that climate policy remains high on the agenda. Saudi Arabia will preside over the G20 in 2020, while the US holds the presidency of the G7. “From today’s point of view, this pairing is not good news for climate diplomacy,” write Dröge and Schenuit.

Read the article in German here.

For background, read the CLEW articles Merkel wins respect for G20 climate result at "B-"-summit and Germany faces balancing act in climate leadership role.