Germany wants to agree to new CO2 targets for trucks in Brussels
Published: Friday, Feb 9th 2024, 13:43
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An agreement has been reached in the coalition dispute over stricter CO2 standards for trucks in the EU. According to the agreement, Germany now wants to agree to a planned EU regulation after all, but there will be additions, the German Press Agency learned from coalition circles on Friday. The vote at EU level was planned for Friday afternoon. The FDP had previously opposed this.
According to government sources, the German government has made a mediation proposal to the EU Commission, which the latter has accepted. According to the proposal, the so-called trilogue is to be reopened and binding regulation is to be introduced - in order to allow trucks that can demonstrably only be refueled with e-fuels to be approved for an unlimited period of time. The proposal would create legal certainty for both manufacturers of commercial vehicles and manufacturers of climate-neutral fuels.
Reservations of the FDP dispelled
This dispelled the reservations of the FDP, which had previously advocated an "open-technology" solution. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) had said on Friday morning on ZDF's "Morgenmagazin" that an essential part of the previous plans for the so-called fleet limits for heavy commercial vehicles was missing, namely synthetic fuels.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) spoke out in favor of Germany's approval on the sidelines of a trip to Algeria, according to the Handelsblatt. "This is what the German economy and industry expect, and I am also campaigning for this to happen." The economy has invested massively in climate-friendly or climate-neutral trucks, especially in electrically powered models.
Negotiators from the EU member states had already agreed in January that new and stricter requirements for so-called fleet limits should be introduced. These limits regulate how much climate-damaging CO2 vehicles are allowed to emit in future. CO2 emissions from coaches and trucks are to be reduced by 90 percent by 2040 - compared to 2019.
A digital meeting in the Chancellery on Thursday with representatives from several ministries and companies initially failed to produce a breakthrough. According to participants, the majority of the representatives of manufacturers and suppliers present called on the German government to approve the new fleet limits. Truck buyers needed planning security, otherwise they would hesitate to buy e-trucks.
©Keystone/SDA
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