German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday there should be no fines in the European Union (EU) for car companies that do not comply with carbon emission limits.
“The money must remain in the companies for the modernisation of their own industry, their own company,” he told reporters.
Earlier on Monday, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said he was open to temporarily suspending fines due next year if carmakers could offset their CO2 limits by exceeding their targets in 2026 and 2027.
“On the fleet limits, my position is as follows: We are sticking to the fleet limits and are being pragmatic about the transition,” Habeck said after a meeting with Italian Industry Minister Adolfo Urso in Berlin.
He said this would give companies flexibility and an incentive to make further progress in climate protection without forcing them to pay billions in fines.
According to the EU’s regulations, average emissions of registered new cars in 2025 must be 15% lower than in 2021, but a drop in electric vehicles sales have made achieving this target more difficult.
Hildegard Mueller, the head of Germany’s carmakers lobby (VDA), said there was a gap between ambitious CO2 fleet regulation goals and the sufficient political support and incentives.
She said weak consumer demand for electric vehicles and economic challenges was hindering progress despite the industry’s 410 billion euro ($430.05 billion) investment in research and factory transformations by 2028.
“In view of the difficult economic situation, the lack of demand for e-mobility from consumers and the continued inadequate framework conditions, further burdens from possible fines in 2025 must be avoided,” Mueller told Reuters.
Germany’s environment ministry on Monday said it was sticking to EU fleet limits and climate targets in the transportation sector but that a flexible approach to the timing of fines payments was a viable solution given the current challenges in the automotive industry.
“Otherwise, the planning security demanded by the industry would be abandoned and those manufacturers who implement the targets would be disadvantaged,” a spokesperson for the ministry told Reuters.
