The EU Parliament has agreed to limit CO₂ vehicle emissions to zero without regard to the fuel used. This will de facto ban the internal combustion engine for passenger cars – a mistake! Because the ban will reduce the diversity of climate-neutral drive technologies.

Frankfurt, 09/06/2022 – Renewable fuels will not contribute to the decarbonization of transport in the EU. Hartmut Rauen, Deputy Executive Director of VDMA, says:

“The vote in the EU Parliament is bad news for the EU’s industrial strength and sustainability. CO₂ vehicle emissions will be capped at zero, without taking into account the fuel used. This will de facto ban the internal combustion engine for passenger cars. This means not only that the EU is giving up its leadership in internal combustion engine technologies, but also that a sustainable technological option with great potential is being abandoned. The ban will reduce the diversity of climate-neutral propulsion technologies – making it increasingly difficult to achieve European climate neutrality targets and build economic resilience. In addition, Russia and China dominate the supply of scarce key raw materials for electromobility such as nickel, cobalt or magnesium to the global vehicle industry. This makes the phase-out of the internal combustion engine a significant geopolitical risk for Europe.

CO2 vehicle emissions will be limited to zero, without taking into account the fuel used. This will de facto ban the internal combustion engine for passenger cars.

Hartmut Rauen, Deputy Executive Director of VDMA

It is particularly regrettable that MEPs did not support the idea of a crediting mechanism for sustainable, renewable fuels, which would have solved the problem of CO₂emissions without destroying the technology. After all, it is not internal combustion engine technology that is the problem, it is fossil fuels. It is now critical that member states change course toward open technology implementation. This is also important because we need climate-friendly drive technologies in other areas as well, such as construction machinery, agricultural machinery, municipal vehicles and the transportation sector.”

The VDMA is Europe’s most important mechanical engineering industry associaton and represents more than 3,400 German and European companies. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and medium-sized businesses. The companies employ around four million people in Europe, more than one million of them in Germany alone. Mechanical and plant engineering represents a European turnover volume of around 800 billion euros. In the entire manufacturing sector, it contributes the highest share to the European gross domestic product with a value added of around 270 billion euros.