Critics Call France-Germany Deal to Weaken EU Car Emissions Rules a "Historic Mistake"

A deal between France and Germany to weaken European Union car emissions rules agreed at the end of last week risks leaving the EU behind on key mobility technologies such as batteries or bidirectional charging, critics from opposition parties and environmental groups have said.

Katharina Dröge, co-leader of the Green party’s parliamentary group in the Bundestag in report by news site ntv said “while China is racing towards the future, Merz and Macron are causing chaos and uncertainty for the market and consumers.” 

Anna Krajinska, senior director at clean transport advocacy group Transport & Environment (T&E), called the deal “a historic mistake,” arguing that slowing the shift to EVs is “the worst possible move” at a time when drivers face high petrol and diesel prices and the European auto industry is under pressure from Chinese rivals. 

At the end of last year, following a push from the government of Germany and Italy and by the automotive industry, the Commission already proposed loosening the EU’s effective ban on the sale of new combustion engine cars from 2035, cutting the target for new cars’ CO2 emissions to 90 percent below 2021 levels instead of 100 percent.

Carmakers could continue selling plug-in hybrids, range extenders and conventional cars after 2035 if they offset the remaining emissions by using low-carbon steel made in the EU, or with e-fuels and biofuels.

Under the deal between Germany and France, which had been in the making for weeks, the 90-percent target would be implemented, but without the requirement to compensate the remaining 10 percent, reported Reuters.

At the same time, the two countries advocate for an EU proposal introducing local-content and low-carbon requirements for products bought through public procurement, public auctions or subsidy ​schemes – the Industrial Accelerator Act, still under negotiation at EU level.

The deal would open the door for Britain to be treated as a “trusted partner” under the EU’s planned “Made in EU” content rules, subject to conditions including full reciprocity, Reuters reported.

The Franco-German paper also proposed compliance periods for CO2 emissions reduction targets spanning multiple years, no revision before 2030 of the utility factor for hybrid vehicles, which measures the share of electric drive of the total mileage, and recognition of cars powered by renewable and low-carbon fuels as zero-emission vehicles, wrote Reuters. 

An agreement at EU level has yet to be negotiated among member state governments and with the European Parliament, but the Franco-German deal is seen as accelerating the process. 

The German steel industry association WV Stahl said the deal risks weakening the targeted incentive to use low-carbon steel originally proposed by the Commission.

NGO Greenpeace Germany called on the European Parliament to reject the Franco-German proposal and to stick with the current rules instead. Executive director Martin Kaiser said that renewable and low-carbon fuels would be expensive and not sufficiently available to ensure climate targets in transport are met under the proposal.

Automotive industry association VDA criticised that the proposal falls short of the necessary adjustments to EU emissions rules. “This applies in particular to the crediting of renewable fuels and the voluntary crediting of green materials,” it said.

The 2035 ban was agreed in 2023 to bring down stubbornly high emissions in the transport sector as the EU moves towards its target of becoming climate-neutral by 2050.

But Germany, home to the major carmakers Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, has lobbied hard for more flexibility, arguing that its carmakers need more time because they are struggling with Chinese competition and US tariffs.

Clean Energy Wire. Reproduced with permission.