Germany’s transport ministry is considering passing legislation that would effectively ban the sale and/or purchase of any new vehicles in the country that aren’t zero emissions starting in 2030.
It’s a drastic move, to be sure, but then again it might be a sound decision to announce it 24 years prior to it taking effect to make sure the public is adapted to the idea of having to let go of fuel burners entirely by then.
The story was brought to light by The Globe and Mail, and corresponds with Germany’s pledge to cut carbon levels down by between 80 and 95 percent from where it is right now by the year 2050.
Preventing people by law to buy petrol or diesel vehicles 20 years prior to that deadline does make sense when viewed through the prims of those kinds of lofty goals. Of course, this does mean that no matter how clean and green we think our hybrids are right now, they will be considered to be too polluting for Germany’s roads in 24 years to be sold.
Given that cars are typically only replaced every few years, with some lasting decades under one owner and even longer before being considered scrap, cars with internal combustion engines will still be in use by 2030. The only difference is that you can’t buy another one – zero emissions all the way, like it or not.
At a climate forum in Berlin, Rainer Baake, Germany’s Deputy Economy Minister, said: “Fact is there’s been no reduction at all in CO2 emissions by transport since 1990. We don’t have any answers to cut truck emissions right now but we do have answers for cars,”
“Since cars typically have a 20-year lifespan, registrations of new diesel and gasoline cars needs to be cut over the next 15 years”, he added.
It is not clear whether Germany’s ban on diesel and gasoline powered cars will include cars that also employ a reserve tank that holds fossil fuel and an accompanying small engine for emergency situations, or whether or not this will also cover sales of motorcycles, or whether there will be any tax or charges handed to an owner driving his or her older gas guzzler?
But it certainly is a wake up call to remind us that the global automotive landscape is about to change in a big way. Germany isn’t the only one looking to such sweeping action against carbon emissions. Earlier this month it was reported that Norway might want to outlaw cars altogether. Ironic, given how much the Scandinavian country has prospered as a result of its vast reserves of oil.
What does BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz have to say about this?
