In brief | 21 April ‘26

Electrive: Germany targets eight million electric cars by 2030

Using the sales and technology forecasts provided by car manufacturers, NOW GmbH has developed an overall projection for the German passenger car market. As of summer 2025, it expects a passenger car stock of around eight million battery-electric vehicles and 2.4 million plug-in hybrids by 2030.

Bloomberg: Germany puts industry at core of EU carbon market reform

Germany wants the European Union to place industrial transition to cleaner energy at the heart of a planned review of its carbon market, after rising energy prices prompted criticism of the bloc’s key climate tool.

Reuters: Germany's big carmakers used to lead the race in China, but now they're 'for the parents'

More than 40 years after Volkswagen stole the show at its first Chinese auto fair, it has lost its cutting-edge status in the country, with homegrown brands setting the pace for a younger generation of tech-hungry drivers.

The Guardian: Almost half of EU’s busiest flight routes are ‘hard or impossible’ to book on trains – report

‘Stone age’ system of booking cross-border rail tickets holding back climate action by consumers, says think tank.

Reuters: Biofuels back in vogue as Iran war triggers oil price surge

Soaring oil prices in the wake of the US-Israeli war on Iran are driving renewed demand for biofuels as the need to tackle a fossil fuel shortage outweighs ​concerns that using crops for fuel will drive up food prices.

ETSC: Europe’s cyclists left behind as safety gap widens, new report finds

Cyclist deaths across the European Union have barely declined over the past decade – even as deaths among car occupants have fallen at four times the rate. A new report underlines that physical separation of cyclists from fast-moving motor traffic is essential to achieving meaningful safety improvements.

IEEFA: Europe’s electricity prices are still tied to gas, making geopolitics a structural vulnerability

EU countries can limit gas plants’ influence on electricity prices by accelerating renewables deployment, expanding the grid and improving flexibility.

Ember: Global Electricity Review 2026

Solar surge halts fossil generation rise as clean power meets all demand growth and renewables overtake coal.