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GERMAN Environment Minister, Steffi Lemke says the country is willing to back a de-facto ban on new combustion engine cars from 2035 if certain other vehicles are exempt.
The controversial proposal was part of a number of key draft bills to meet the European Union’s (EU) climate target of reaching climate neutrality by 2050.
EU environment ministers are meeting in Luxembourg today to forge their position on the different proposals.
Lemke proposed an amendment to the draft bill to continue registering certain vehicles outside the passenger car sector running on CO2-neutral fuels, speaking at the meeting.
Lemke had previously mentioned fire trucks, shipping and aviation as examples, in an interview with the German public broadcaster ZDF.
Should EU countries endorsed the ban, carbon dioxide (CO2) emission limits for new cars were to be gradually reduced to zero thereby de-facto banning combustion engine cars from 2035.
The remarks came amid a dispute between Lemke’s Green Party and the pro-business coalition partner Free Democrats (FDP) on the position of the German government regarding the future of conventional vehicles in the EU.
German Finance Minister, Christian Lindner, an FDP member, told dpa on Tuesday morning that backing the ban does not correspond to the current coalition arrangements.
EU environment ministers would also discuss the reform of the EU’s carbon pricing scheme, the so-called EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), and a multibillion-euro climate social fund.
Reform plans included adding parts of the building and transport sector to the list of industries that had to buy allowances for their climate-harming emissions and an end to free pollution allowances for certain businesses.
Ministers also had to agree on the scope of the climate fund intended to tackle energy and transport poverty in the bloc.
“The transition to renewable energy will bring the bills down, but many people will need some support in getting there,’’ EU Climate Commissioner Frans Timmermans said.
He called for a substantial fund that would allow all member states to address the issue of energy poverty in a credible way.
“Negotiations were expected to be lengthy.The EU is the one weare negotiating,’’ Timmermans said.
He added that nobody was going to leave the room without a bit of pain but for the common good.
Once EU ministers had agreed on their position on the different draft laws, they would enter into negotiations with the European Parliament to work on the final text of the bills. (dpa/NAN)
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