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Climate protection: EU commission seeks exit year for combustion engine

2020-09-17T14:50:20.749Z


The EU wants to become climate neutral by 2050. Brussels is therefore officially exploring a possible end date for the sale of cars with diesel and gasoline engines - much earlier than previously planned.


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Employees assemble the engine of a Porsche 911

Photo: Marijan Murat / dpa

Several European countries want to ban the sale of cars with internal combustion engines after a certain year - including Great Britain, France and Norway.

Now the EU Commission is also toying with such an exit date.

"In the coming months, the Commission will review what is required in the [transport] sector so that it can contribute to climate neutrality by 2050 and from what point in time cars with internal combustion engines should no longer be on the market," an official said Letter from the Brussels authority on Thursday to the EU Parliament, the Council and other European bodies.

On Wednesday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) called for a faster pace in climate protection and suggested a 55 percent reduction by 2030 compared to 1990 as an intermediate stage.

So far, the goal has been minus 40 percent.

The Commission will discuss its proposals with the EU Parliament and member states in the coming months.

The Commission itself cannot issue a ban

Also on Wednesday, Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans assured the auto industry that the Commission would not ban internal combustion engines.

The authority behaves in a technology-neutral manner.

Instead of diesel or gasoline, the units could also run on climate-neutral fuels such as hydrogen or synthetic eco-fuel.

If the industry is able to build emission-free cars with combustion engines, that is not a problem - as long as the climate protection targets are met, an official from the EU Commission said when asked.

But then the question remains, why does the Commission even want to think about a specific date for the end of the internal combustion engine.

If you want to reduce emissions from cars by 50 percent by 2030, "then we have to know when we will get to a zero-emissions fleet," said the official.

"We want to give this signal to the industry to ensure that this is taken into account in investments made today."

Individual states want to ban combustion engines

It will probably take at least six months before the Commission will present detailed proposals for future CO2 emissions from cars.

If, however, alternative fuels are not available in sufficient quantities in the future, a combustion engine phase-out date would have to be well before 2050 - given the more than ten-year lifespan of cars.

France wants to get out of technology by 2040.

Great Britain is planning to say goodbye to the units as early as 2035. However, discussions recently took place in London about moving the date even further forward.

Because the Commission alone cannot and does not want to ban internal combustion engines, the EU could transfer this means to its member states, experts say.

In such a scenario, Brussels presents an ambitious emissions saving target for the auto industry and calculates a year after which no more cars can be sold that run on petrol or diesel.

Then it leaves it up to manufacturers and states to implement the requirement - for example by a voluntary or at least forced phase-out date for combustion engines.

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nis / mbe

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2020-09-17

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