Germany wants to suspend CO2 emission fines for carmakers in 2025
Robert Habeck, Federal Economics Minister and Green Party candidate for German Chancellor, does not want to impose any penalties on the ailing German automotive industry that could result from the European fleet limits for 2025. Habeck said this after a meeting with his Italian counterpart Adolfo Urso in Berlin. He wanted to act “pragmatically” during the transition and advocated “offsetting.” As reported by Die Zeit, Habeck can imagine offsetting possible deficits in the coming year by car manufacturers by overfulfilling the quotas of car manufacturers in 2026 and 2027.
However, Habeck does not want to move away from the fleet limits introduced in 2021. These set a limit for manufacturers on the CO2 emissions of their fleets sold in the EU. This value is currently 115.1 grams of CO2 per kilometre per vehicle; in 2025, it will fall to 93.6 grams and in 2030 to 49.5 grams. The jump from 2024 to 2025 is relatively large, causing unease in the car industry for months. In principle, the 2025 target can only be achieved with a certain proportion of electric cars, but sales are not developing as expected. Those who fail to meet the limit values must expect high penalties. A lobby document circulating in the industry warned in September that the CO2 limits could cost millions of jobs.
In addition to Habeck, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is also in favour of postponing the impending penalties. He has called on the EU Commission not to prosecute manufacturers who exceed the CO2 fleet limits in 2025. “I believe there should be no penalty payments for companies from Germany and other European automotive companies if they do not quite meet the CO2 targets,” Scholz said. “The money must remain in the companies for the modernisation of their own industry, their own company.” It would be a better and more pragmatic way than insisting on the regulations to the letter.
The proposal by his vice-chairman Habeck should take some pressure off car manufacturers without losing the incentive to sell electric cars. According to the Green Party politician, the “settlement” would incentivise car manufacturers to reduce fleet emissions overall – without having to pay billions in fines in “this difficult situation for them.” And: The “lever” for Europe’s car manufacturers to “get the registrations of electric vehicles up” would be affordable electric models.
Volkswagen and Ford are just two examples of local manufacturers struggling with weak sales figures and the high costs of switching to electric drives. Habeck also states that he wants to campaign at EU level for the fleet limits to be revised next year instead of in 2026.
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