German EU Commissioner Oettinger fights tighter emissions limits for lorries

The German EU budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger tries to avoid tighter emissions limits for lorries, working against a push for much stricter limits by France, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxemburg and the Netherlands, Jens Tartler writes in the Tagesspiegel Background. The governments have called for reducing CO₂ emissions of utility vehicles over 3.5 tonnes by at least 24 percent by 2025 and by over 35 percent by 2030, arguing that lorries only account for five percent of all vehicles on the road but for a quarter of all emissions in the sector, Tartler says. According to the newspaper, the EU Commission will propose a reduction of 10 to 15 percent by 2025, not least due to the influence of German commissioner Oettinger, “who has close ties to the [German] car industry”, Tartler says. Oettinger supports German utility vehicle producers MAN and Daimler, who lobby for reducing emissions reduction to just 7 percent by 2025, according to the article.

For background, read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.