Study on Germany’s transport emissions says regulators missing “coherent big picture”

A new study published by the World Energy Council Germany (WEC) on the climate impact of the country’s transport sector says that policymakers fail to base their decisions on a “coherent big picture.” “The current regulatory framework is tied to the emissions of new vehicles in a standardised environment, namely to the purely theoretical emissions potential of a small part of the vehicle fleet,” the report says. The regulators omit many important aspects, such as the existing infrastructure, traffic jams, kilometres driven by each car, or the crucial concept of sector coupling, when deciding on transport policy. The report adds that the declining share of diesel cars in the German car fleet is likely to increase emissions as diesel engines produce up to 15 percent less CO₂ per kilometre than petrol cars.

Find the report in German here.