berlin german chancellor angela merkel endorsed a hardfought eu compromise deal for a 35 percent cut in car emissions by 2030 despite protests from her countrys own automakers which said the target was unrealistic and pursuing it would cost jobs torn between reducing pollution and preserving industry competitiveness eu environment ministers in luxembourg talked for more than 13 hours on tuesday to reach a compromise over what 2030 carbon dioxide limits to impose on europes powerful car manufacturers asked on wednesday at a berlin news conference for her view on the deal merkel described the cuts softer than those demanded by some eu countries as defensible partly because of the scope for later revising them advt there is a revisions clause for 2021 since the question of how fast we can cut carbon dioxide emissions depends on the extent of market penetration by electric cars or other cars with alternative propulsion systems she said under these circumstances i think the agreement is wholly defensible the eu talks were lent added urgency by the publication of a un report this week warning that time was running short for the rapid and unprecedented global action needed to contain global warming the car emissions target was harsher than the 30 percent cut wanted by germany with its vast auto industry and the eus executive but short of the 40 percent some other member states were seeking while merkel said the agreement at least provided certainty to european carmakers the industrys umbrella group protested at the pace of the cuts envisaged and called for more public support for the transition to electric vehicles its very regrettable that a majority of eu member states didnt find it in themselves to strike a balance between climate protection and preserving jobs said bernhard mattes head of the vda auto industry umbrella group eu governments need to take on more of the financial burden of building out networks of charging stations if they want swifter adoption of lowpollution electric cars he added advt volkswagens chief executive herbert diess warned in a german newspaper interview that the planned environmental regulations could have dire consequences an industry can collapse faster than many believe diess told the daily sueddeutsche zeitung on wednesday a 40 percent cut in car emissions by 2030 would result in the loss of about a quarter of vws factory jobs or 100000 positions he said the 35 percent reduction doesnt look much better he added in an indication of the depths of divisions in environmentallyminded germany over the role of its most important export industry the toughened targets brought home from luxembourg failed to win over the opposition a 35 percent cut is nothing like enough for the challenges of tomorrow said greens leader anton hofreiter the government must take its foot off the brake in climate matters reuters published on oct 11 2018 at 1009 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment