News Digest Item
25 Apr 2017

“Berlin blocks stricter emissions tests”

Süddeutsche Zeitung

The federal German government is blocking tighter controls of the auto industry in Europe, report Markus Balser and Michael Bauchmüller in Süddeutsche Zeitung. The EU Commission is currently working on an emissions testing overhaul that would allow closer supervision of national regulatory authorities like Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) and change the way vehicle testing companies are funded. The German government opposes these proposals, according to a statement by the presidency of the Council of the EU, write Balser and Bauchmüller. The federal government also opposes lower nitrogen oxide EU emission standards for coal-fired power plants, reports Bauchmüller in a separate article. The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) said that retrofitting old plants for strict standards would be disproportionately expensive and “one should rather discuss if these facilities should be modernised at all”, according to Bauchmüller.

Read the auto emissions article in German here and the power plant emissions article in German here.

For background read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers and the CLEW factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal?

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