30 states agree on the end for diesel and gasoline engines - Germany is against it

The pressure on German car manufacturers is growing.

In Glasgow, almost 30 countries agreed to put an end to vehicles with internal combustion engines.

Germany is against it - for surprising reasons.

Glasgow - At the World Climate Summit *, around 30 countries and leading global vehicle manufacturers agreed to end the sale of cars with combustion engines by 2040.

In developed markets, the combustion engine phase-out should succeed by 2035, according to an initiative of the British conference presidency.

In addition to Great Britain, the signatories also include EU countries such as Denmark, Austria and Poland as well as Israel and Canada.

States such as California and cities such as Barcelona, ​​Florence and New York are also involved.

Over for combustion: Federal government considers many questions to be unanswered

Germany did not join the push against it.

The declaration will not be signed at the summit, said a spokesman for the Federal Environment Ministry on Wednesday morning.

This was "the result of the government's internal audit," it said.

There is consensus within the executive federal government that only zero-emission vehicles should be allowed by 2035, said the spokesman.

"However, there is still no consensus on a marginal aspect of the declaration, namely the question of whether e-fuels obtained from renewable energies in internal combustion engines can be part of the solution." the signatory states "not considered expedient"

No more combustion engines: Mercedes-Benz supports British initiative

Ford, Volvo and Jaguar Landrover support the initiative among car manufacturers. Mercedes-Benz has also committed to the goals. The Munich-based BMW * group, however, rejects the initiative. "We believe this is harmful to the climate," said CEO Oliver Zipse on Wednesday at a "Handelsblatt" auto forum. Even in Germany and Europe there are not enough charging stations for electric cars, and there is also not enough green electricity. If new combustion engines were to be banned, old cars would drive even longer. "Things are not thought through to the end here," said Zipse.

Climate-friendly mobility is the focus of the World Climate Conference on Wednesday.

The subject is also one of the priorities of the British COP presidency, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson summarized with the catchphrase “coal, cars, cash and trees”.