A planned ban on all new combustion engine vehicles in 2035 has formally been approved by representatives of the 27 EU Member States on Monday, with Germany lifting its veto in exchange for exemptions regarding synthetic fuels.
From 2035, new vehicles will no longer be allowed to emit carbon dioxide (CO2). This means that the sale of new petrol, diesel, and hybrid vehicles will effectively be banned, in favour of all-electric vehicles.
The bill will now be put on the agenda at a meeting of the European energy minister for formal adoption on Tuesday, the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU announced. This radical change is part of the EU’s push to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Germany, which is the EU’s auto-manufacturing heartland, has been reluctant to give its blessing to the plans, which will likely cause significant economic disruption to this vital industry. Berlin blocked the proposal at the last moment, despite MEPs backing the ban in plenary meetings.
The German government justified its last minute opposition as wanting the Commission to present proposals for allowing vehicles to run on synthetic fuels. This is a developing fuel type in the field of sustainable fuels.
Despite a long-track record of reliably creating fuel, e-fuels and other carbon-neutral sources remain controversial. The idea is that fuels can be created from the byproducts of CO2 intensive industries, as they are principally composed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
While a more carbon-friendly option, the use of synthetic fuels would extend the use of combustion engines after 2035. Both Italian and German high-end vehicle manufacturers have advocated for this exception to the combustion engine ban. Of note, the new laws exclude supercar manufacturers from the requirement to go green.
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With the new exception, what future is there now for the combustion engine? Some vehicles with this type of fuel-burning engine can be registered after 2035, so long as they use CO2 neutral fuels, German Transport Minister Volker Wissing stated. This exception would likely only apply to the luxury market, due to the high price of synthetic fuels.
Despite this, the exception has already been hotly debated by environmentalists, who consider these synthetic-fuel burning vehicles to still be costly and polluting.
