Given the tense situation in the auto industry, an internal paper from the European auto industry warns of the loss of millions of jobs. The industry is not in a position to comply with an impending tightening of EU climate regulations, according to the letter that is available to the German Press Agency in Brussels. “As a result, EU industry will be confronted with fines running into billions.” Anyone who wants to avoid penalties has “little choice but to significantly reduce production, which threatens millions of jobs in the EU,” it says.
Fleet limits reduced
The background is the so-called fleet limit values. These set a limit for CO₂ emissions from cars. On average for all vehicles registered in the EU in one year, this may not be exceeded. This value is currently 115.1 grams of CO₂ per kilometer, per vehicle – measured using the so-called WLTP test procedure. It is expected to fall to 93.6 grams in 2025 and to 49.5 grams in 2030. Manufacturers have to pay a fine for emitting too much CO₂.
The paper mentions that the production and sales of more than two million cars with internal combustion engines could be stopped as a way to avoid the penalties. That corresponds to the output of eight factories. This would result in the loss of millions of jobs.
Emergency items in sight
So that it doesn’t get to that point, it is suggested to use an emergency item that was already used during Corona. The EU Commission could thus postpone the introduction of stricter requirements for two years.
When asked, the European automobile association Acea said that the association was aware of the paper. It is not an official paper from the lobby association. According to dpa information, the letter is authentic and is circulating within the European automotive industry. The financial service provider Bloomberg had previously reported on the internal paper.
Transport and Environment, an EU lobby group for sustainable mobility, criticized the demands as “absurd”. The car manufacturers would have had enough time to prepare for the CO₂ target that has been known since 2019.
The Volkswagen Group had called for relief
The federal government is calling for simplification of the CO₂ fleet targets for the coming year following similar demands of the ailing car manufacturer VW already rejected. With the previous target value levels, the manufacturers only closed their compliance gap in the target year and not ahead of time, said a spokesman for the responsible Federal Environment Ministry when asked by “Welt am Sonntag”.
The vast majority of manufacturers have largely succeeded in closing the gaps, although some of them were larger in the past than they are now. “We trust that the German automotive industry will once again demonstrate its reliability and technological competence and achieve the target values,” the spokesman continued.