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Emissions Plan

DW staff (tkw)December 19, 2007

Industry and environment champions are lining up for a showdown with the European Commission on how to cut carbon dioxide emissions from cars without harming Europe's carmakers.

https://p.dw.com/p/CdOM
Exhaust blowing out of car pipe
How the burden will be shared among carmakers in reducing emissions is unclearImage: AP

The European Union has revealed plans for cutting carbon dioxide emissions in EU-made vehicles, but there is dispute among the manufacturers about who should bear the brunt of the cuts.

"A climate-change war over cars" was how the business weekly Wirtschaftswoche described the standoff between one of Germany's largest and most vital industries and the bureaucrats in Brussels.

It is up to the European Commission -- the EU's executive arm -- to set out how carmakers should meet the target of cutting emissions to an average of 130 grams/kilometer (g/km) among their passenger vehicles from 2012, and how parts and fuel-makers should knock a further 10 g/km off the average. The target represents a cut of about 25 percent from current levels.

Internal commission strife

Bumper-to-bumper traffic on a German highway
Checking tire pressure and using biofuels can help reduce emissionsImage: AP

The EU's commissioners, however, remain at odds over several key points.

Commissioner for Enterprise Günter Verheugen, a staunch defender of the German car industry, has sought to reduce fines on companies that do not cut average emissions to 130 grams per km through engine technology.

But environment Commission Stavros Dimas argued for gradually mounting fines from 2012 as an effective deterrent to force manufacturers to invest in clean technology.

Overall, car parts and fuel-makers are meant to find ways to slash average emissions by a quarter -- from the current 160 g/km to 120 g/km. While climate protection groups say that might be a manageable target, it is far from clear which manufacturers will serve as the sacrificial lamb.

"The only thing that really poses a threat to us are bad political decisions taken in Brussels or Berlin," Matthias Wissmann, the head of the German automobile federation VDA, said last week.

Given that the targets apply to the sector as a whole, it is the commission's task to decide how the new burden is to be shared.

Big versus small

A car on a production line
European carmakers have taken different sides in the CO2 disputeImage: picture-alliance/ dpa

Countries that traditionally make larger, less fuel-efficient vehicles, such as Germany and Sweden, are at odds with their European neighbors, such as France, Spain and Italy, who are better known for producing smaller cars.

The latter say luxury carmakers should take the weight of the new guidelines, not least because they are the ones with the highest profit margins.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been vocally pro-environment since taking up office, has lobbied hard against the emissions caps.

"We will fight for our interests," she told a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels recently.

A common pool of CO2

In keeping with Germany's wishes, the latest word from the commission was that it was proposing the cuts to be proportionate to a vehicle's weight, and the emissions targets to be pooled among carmakers.

Auto Brennstoffzellen-Antrieb von Mercedes-Benz
European automakers may see profits drop if emissions limits are put in placeImage: AP/DAIMLERCHRYSLER

Also unresolved is how manufacturers will be penalized for failing to meet their targets. Head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has suggested a fine of 10 euros ($14) for each extra gram of CO2, but the European Commissioner for the Environment Stavros Dimas wants to implement a fee of 35 euros per excess gram -- a drop from the 95 euros per gram he had been quoted with proposing in some media reports.

That suggestion has met with fierce resistance from Germany, whose car industry could stand to loose billions under such a stringent penalty system.

"The implementation of the carbon dioxide targets could hurt them more than expected," Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, head of the Center for Automotive Research, said of Germany's big, fuel guzzlers. "The impact on the profit margins of Europe's top-of-the-range producers could be considerable."

But that's consequence environmental campaigners say the German automobile industry should have seen coming.

"It was the Germans who popularised the idea of a big car as a status symbol, and now it has backfired on them," said Greenpeace's Wolfgang Lohbeck.