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 By Alex PIGMAN in Brussels Luxembourg (AFP) Oct 9, 2018
EU ministers battled Tuesday over the extent of emission cuts to be imposed on carmakers, in the wake of a warning by UN experts on the dangers of global warming. Auto-making giant Germany in a fierce resistance succeeded in imposing a compromise plan tabled by Austria, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. Ministers agreed to a 35 percent CO2 reduction for new cars by 2030 compared to models made for 2021. This target was reduced to 30 percent for vans. "After 13 hours of negotiations, we are relieved... The compromise is in the interest of all member states," Austrian Environment Minister Elisabeth Kostinger told reporters. The deal on cars was greater than the target of 30 percent suggested by the European Commission, the EU executive, but it remained well below the 40 percent cut advocated by the European Parliament in a vote last week. Germany was backed by eastern European member states -- while Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Nordic states had pushed for more ambitious reductions. "This text is worse than what was on the table this morning," said a disappointed Irish Environment Minister Denis Naughton. German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze, a social democrat, said that she would have liked to be able to support a more ambitious cut on behalf of Berlin, particularly after the alarm signal sent by IPCC experts. But she admitted that her coalition partner the CDU, the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, was pushing the tougher line, which she defended at the Luxembourg meeting. Germany -- home to Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW -- is worried that if targets are set too high it would hurt exports and threaten jobs. France, home to Renault and Peugeot, said it had wanted "a 40 percent reduction in CO2 emissions from cars in 2030", but appeared to have accepted the compromise position. The ministerial agreement is now set for tough negotiations with MEPs and the commission, with a first round of talks set for Wednesday. Countries and NGOs pushing for a more ambitious position pointed the finger directly at Berlin. "Germany and the (eastern European) Visegrad countries fiercely lobbied for no more than a 30 percent cut proposed by the European Commission, aided behind the scenes by European Commissioner (Miguel Arias) Canete," said activist lobby Transport & Environment. "Today's decision ... shows how far the Commission and some member states have shrunk from climate leadership putting carmakers interests first," it added. - 'Positive signal' - Tuesday's meeting also adopted the EU's position at COP24, the UN climate summit to be held in December in Katowice, Poland. On Monday, UN climate experts urged policy makers to adopt "rapid" and "unprecedented" reforms if they want to adequately limit global warming and meet commitments made at the COP21 talks in 2016. At COP21, the EU had committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030, compared to 1990, in all sectors of its economy. In a carefully worded text, ministers on Tuesday agreed that the EU was "ready (...) to communicate or update" its national contributions by 2020 to meet the targets set in Paris. "The main priority was to send a positive signal, not to commit to new EU targets," said a diplomatic source.
Court orders diesel ban on major Berlin roads A renewed focus on air quality in the wake of Volkswagen's 2015 "dieselgate" scandal -- in which the car giant admitted to cheating regulatory tests on 11 million cars worldwide -- has seen a wave of courtroom action across Germany. In the capital city, "the current clean air plan does not include sufficient measures to meet annual limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2)," the Berlin judges said. City authorities "must order a driving ban for the streets where the threshold is not met," targeting cars up to the Euro 5 emissions standard, they ruled. Local media estimate that this would affect as many as 200,000 cars, some only three or four years old, with some exceptions, including for tradesmen. Definite exclusion zones include 11 stretches of major arteries, and Berlin must also examine whether driving bans are needed on a further 15 kilometres (nine miles) of road, a tiny fraction of its total 5,343 kilometres. "This ruling is a ringing slap in the face" for the government, Greenpeace transport spokesman Benjamin Stephan said. "As long as the car industry is not forced into hardware refits for all dirty diesels in every city, driving bans will be the only effective measure." - 'Good day for clean air' - Tuesday was "a good day for clean air," agreed Juergen Resch, head of the DUH environmentalist group that brought the court case. "In Berlin we have 250,000 people who suffer from asthma, including 50,000 children." Nitrogen oxides (NOx) including NO2 are estimated to cause thousands of premature deaths in Germany each year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the gases aggravate asthma and bronchitis symptoms and are linked to cardiovascular and respiratory disease. In Berlin, annual average levels reach 49 milligrammes per cubic metre -- well above the federal government's 40-milligramme limit -- while in 14 other cities levels exceed 50 milligrammes. Germany is one of a number of countries that have missed European Union deadlines to bring down levels of NOx in urban air, opening them to potential legal action from Brussels. - Powerful auto sector - Chancellor Angela Merkel's "grand coalition" of conservative CDU and centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) have wrangled over diesel with one another and with the car industry for a year. The aim: reducing air pollution without loading new costs onto drivers, imposing more driving bans or hobbling the country's vital car industry as it confronts rising challengers from the United States and China. Ministers last week unveiled a plan counting on car drivers to trade in older diesels for newer, less polluting models, or to have them refitted with more effective exhaust treatment systems. But with no legal tools to put the squeeze on carmakers, the politicians said they had to negotiate further with the firms to get them to pay for such modifications. Manufacturers Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler have agreed to at least examine refits, while BMW continues to reject them. All three would prefer to sell millions of new cars with help from "trade-in discounts" of up to 8,000 euros ($9,162). The changes come as several German courts have so far backed environmental campaigners. Port city Hamburg has already closed stretches of two major roads to older diesels, while Stuttgart -- home to Mercedes-Benz and VW subsidiary Porsche -- will ban them from much of its streets from next year. Judges also recently ordered a ban in the city centre of Frankfurt, Germany's financial hub that sees an influx of tens of thousands of commuters each day.
Germany probes Audi over SKorea 'fraud': report Berlin (AFP) Oct 8, 2018 German prosecutors are investigating whether Audi fraudulently obtained authorisations for some cars in South Korea by falsifying chassis numbers and test records, local media reported Monday. Basing its report on documents from Munich prosecutors probing the case, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung said employees at Audi are suspected of having modified results of tests including on pollution measurements and fuel consumption. Chassis numbers of the affected engines are also switched to cover their track ... read more
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