German finance minister shoots down environment ministry’s car emissions reduction plans

Germany’s finance minister and vice chancellor Olaf Scholz has shot down a plan by environment minister Svenja Schulze to introduce ambitious emissions reduction standards across the EU in order to meet the climate targets agreed on in the Paris Agreement, Gerald Traufetter and Simon Hage write in Der Spiegel. Scholz reportedly rejected fellow Social Democrat Schulze’s plan after he had been visited by labour union and car industry representatives, who said that the planned 50 percent emissions reduction by 2030, much more than the 30 percent reduction currently envisaged by the EU, would cost up to 100,000 jobs in Germany’s most important industry. The authors say Germany’s carmakers will also benefit from the finance ministry’s planned tax breaks for electric and hybrid cars, which apparently will not be contingent on minimum performance standards for hybrid cars, as initially expected by the companies. According to the article, a car industry manager said “we can’t believe how lucky we are” in light of Scholz’s car-friendly initiatives.

Find a short version of the article on Spiegel Online here.

See the CLEW articles German environment ministry pushes for tighter car emissions rules and One year after Germany’s diesel summit, the air quality challenge remains for more information.