Following the EU proposal to relax CO₂ limits for cars, Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (47, SPD) warned German car manufacturers against sticking to the combustion engine. “However, the car companies should not misunderstand this: If they now think that they can continue to rely on diesel and petrol engines for a long time, then their difficulties will be even greater in a few years. The path to electromobility must continue at high speed,” said Klingbeil to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. At the same time, he made it clear: “The future of mobility is electric.”
Klingbeil referred to international competition. In Beijing and Shanghai he experienced “how far we have already come there, also because the government is massively promoting the switch.” From this it follows: “Our car manufacturers have some catching up to do.” The Finance Minister nevertheless described the Brussels proposal as a viable compromise. “We have now found a good way to make the path to climate neutrality more flexible, for example by allowing hybrids for even longer,” he said. In addition, “If we act pragmatically, protecting jobs and protecting the climate are not opposites.”
“The pressure and the will for electromobility are there”
Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder (57, CDU) defended the easing with regard to industry and employment. “We cannot saw off the branch we are sitting on. The automotive industry is the leading industry in Germany,” Schnieder told the newspapers of the Funke media group. He did not share the concern that German manufacturers could fall further behind in electric cars: “That won’t happen. The pressure and the will for electromobility are there.” At the same time, one must note that also in China and the USA Combustion cars would continue to be produced.
This 100 percent reduction target is now being abandoned. In the future, there will be exceptions, according to which only up to 90 percent of CO₂ will have to be saved compared to the base year 2021. The prerequisite is that the remaining emissions are offset by the use of environmentally friendly steel and more climate-friendly fuels.