Agreement in dispute over new CO2 standards for trucks

Federal Government

According to Economics Minister Robert Habeck, the economy has invested massively in climate-friendly trucks. He should be happy about the solution to the dispute over stricter CO2 standards.

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There is an agreement in the coalition dispute over stricter CO2 standards for trucks in the EU. Accordingly, Germany now wants to agree to a planned EU regulation, but there should be additions, the German Press Agency learned from coalition circles on Friday. The vote at EU level was scheduled for Friday afternoon. The FDP had previously opposed it.

Government circles said that the federal government had made a mediation proposal to the EU Commission, which it had accepted. The so-called trilogue should then be reopened and binding regulations should be inserted – in order to allow trucks that can demonstrably only be refueled with e-fuels to be permitted indefinitely. The proposal will create legal certainty for both manufacturers of commercial vehicles and manufacturers of climate-neutral fuels.

Germany now wants to agree to new requirements

This dispelled the reservations of the FDP, which had previously advocated a “technology-open” solution. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) said on ZDF’s “Morgenmagazin” on Friday morning that an essential part of the previous plans for the so-called fleet limits for heavy commercial vehicles was missing, namely synthetic fuels.

Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck According to “Handelsblatt”, (Greens) spoke out in favor of Germany’s approval on the sidelines of a trip to Algeria. “The German economy and industry expect this, and I also want it to happen that way.” The economy has invested massively in climate-friendly or climate-neutral trucks, especially in electrically powered models.

New limits decided

Negotiators from the EU states had already agreed in January that there should be new and stricter requirements for so-called fleet limit values. These limits regulate how much climate-damaging CO2 vehicles will be allowed to emit in the future. CO2 emissions from coaches and trucks are expected to fall by 90 percent by 2040 – compared to 2019.

A digital meeting in the Chancellery on Thursday with representatives from several ministries and companies initially failed to produce a breakthrough. Participants said that the majority of manufacturer and supplier representatives present had called on the federal government to agree to the new fleet limits. Truck buyers need planning security, otherwise they would hesitate to buy electric trucks. (dpa/lag)

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