As of: February 25, 2024, 9:40 a.m
By: Lars-Eric Nievelstein
Comments
Press
Split
The automotive industry is lagging behind in terms of sustainable transformation.
According to one expert, it could already be too late.
She views the industry with “concern.”
Berlin – emissions scandal, environmental bonus, then its abolition.
In the last 20 years, the automotive industry has been very busy in terms of the transformation towards climate neutrality.
However, experts see the automotive industry as one of the “brakes” on the way to a CO₂-free Federal Republic.
What's more: Not all car companies would survive the next 20 years.
An expert gives a pessimistic report.
Climate targets in the automotive sector
Specifically, the federal government wants to put around 15 million fully electric cars on the roads by 2030.
Currently there are around a million.
Until December, the federal government had supported the purchase of electric cars with an environmental bonus, but then made the controversial decision to stop this support.
The legislature also plans to set up one million charging points by 2030. A functioning infrastructure is essential for the operation of these vehicles.
However, there had recently been problems with Aral - the company would like to set up more charging points, but the network expansion cannot keep up.
“Great concern” in the automotive industry – will manufacturers soon disappear?
© IMAGO / Action Pictures
The car companies, in turn, each pursue their own goals.
At BMW, for example, it is said that the BMW Group's emissions should be reduced by 80 percent between 2019 and 2030.
VW is committed to the Paris Climate Agreement and wants to be “completely CO₂ neutral” as a company by 2050.
This affects both the vehicles and production.
And Audi wants to have CO₂-neutral production at all production sites by 2025.
This means that the company offsets “unavoidable” CO₂ emissions through compensation projects.
Auto industry should be “almost completely” electric by 2030
Basically, things looked comparatively good for the automotive industry last year.
At least that's what a survey showed.
The auto industry had to contend with high cost pressure due to increased material prices, and China is also waging a price war across all sectors.
However, the mood among German automotive suppliers improved significantly in January.
“Companies in the German automotive industry assess their current business situation more positively and, in particular, are much more optimistic about the next few months than at the end of 2023,” said specialist Anita Wölfl from the Ifo Institute of the
German Press Agency
(dpa).
My news
With this trick, pensioners pay significantly less for car insurance
Thousands of employees can look forward to a special payment for February's payroll
2 hours ago
The big cross-list: German companies are cutting jobs – despite a shortage of skilled workers
Germany facing double recession: DIHK fears biggest economic crisis in 20 yearsread
This is how much less pension statutory insured pensioners will receive from March reading
German family business files for bankruptcy - 150 employees affected read
A study by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) came to the conclusion that vehicle production in Europe “will be almost completely converted to electric vehicles by 2030,” reported Wirtschaftswoche.
Sales of electric vehicles should continue to grow and demand from suppliers should increase.
Klima Wirtschaft views the future of the automotive industry with “great concern”.
Sabine Nallinger, head of the Climate Economy Foundation, sees it differently.
The foundation works closely with entrepreneurs who want to further align their company with sustainability, providing advice and information.
In the podcast with
Zeit Online
, she gave an insight into how Germany performs in the international competition for green industries and what CEOs need to run a more environmentally friendly company.
“I look at the future of the automotive industry in Germany with great concern,” said Nallinger in the podcast.
There is definitely potential.
“If the auto industry was ready to transform, it would have a large future market,” explained the expert.
Instead, she spent many years exerting influence on politics and preventing stricter regulations on the issue of CO₂ in Brussels.
As a result, the industry itself was unable to begin a real transformation.
“And today the industry representatives are saying that they need guidelines in order to be able to turn around quickly enough.”
Nallinger does not assume that it can transform quickly enough to retain its current market share.
It is also questionable whether the manufacturers who produce in Germany today will still be doing so in 20 years.
She also sees problems in other industries, especially those that rely heavily on fossil fuels.
Climate goals of the automotive industry
What makes setting goals on the subject of CO₂ emissions somewhat complex is that there are many different climate goals depending on the industry and company.
At the core of national climate policy is the so-called Climate Protection Act.
This stipulates that Germany must be greenhouse gas neutral by 2045.
The law also provides for a “comprehensive climate protection program for 2023 with effective measures”, which results in the overall plan for the federal government’s climate policy.
There was originally a binding sector target for the transport industry, but this was no longer applicable following the amendment to the Climate Protection Act.
According to the Federal Environment Agency, as soon as emissions in the transport sector contribute to exceeding total emissions, the responsible ministry of transport must propose measures to get back on target.
The Climate Protection Act “presumably” means a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to zero for the transport sector.
A lofty goal - and the case of the automotive industry shows that postponing these plans can ultimately only cost more money, more regulation and possibly jobs.