Germany wants to start banning the internal combustion engine, after being one of the originators of it. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the ban doesn’t take effect till 2030.
Germany’s Spiegel Magazin reported that the country’s top legislative body was able to reach a bi-partisan agreement that hopes to allow only zero-emission vehicles on EU roads in 14 years. For the resolution to be instituted across Europe, it will have to be approved by the EU. But according to Forbes, “German regulations traditionally have shaped EU and UNECE regulations.”
To make this complex decision even more absurd, Greens party lawmaker Oliver Krischer told Spiegel, “If the Paris agreement to curb climate-warming emissions is to be taken seriously, no new combustion engine cars should be allowed on roads after 2030.”
The resolution calls on EU automakers to “review the current practices of taxation and dues with regard to a stimulation of emission-free mobility.” Creating a tougher tax burden could encourage manufacturers to push electric vehicles into production sooner, rather than later.
While larger approvals will still need to go through the legislative process, the fact that the country with the fourth-largest auto industry in the world is spearheading such sweeping change is a big sign of where we’re headed. It’s a road paved with slow-moving politicians making incremental changes and hoping the industry will warm up to the idea of not killing us all.
Ignoring the climate change proponents, where would this ban put OPEC (AKA the pimps at the pumps) financially?
Then there is the situation of getting the rest of the world to agree, fairly unlikely in Central Africa and South American countries which rely on selling fuel oil to stay alive.
Good try, Mr Green party, but it won’t happen.
