German carmakers call for more ambitious targets to boost renewable fuels

The German auto industry has called for more ambitious national targets in order to ensure that renewable fuels, alongside electric vehicles, can make a decisive contribution to climate action. The requirements in the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) for ramping up renewable fuels have so far been too unambitious, claims the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA).

With renewable fuels, the existing stock of vehicles with combustion engines can be operated in a largely climate-neutral manner in the long term, but the market ramp-up of zero-emission vehicles, such as fuel cell trucks, can also be encouraged, said the VDA.

Promoting electric vehicles alone is not enough, according to the association. “Even if the federal government’s goal of 15 million electric cars by 2030 is met, at least 40 million cars and trucks with combustion engines will still be on German roads,” said VDA President Hildegard Müller.

Promoting electric vehicles “not enough to decarbonize traffic”

Renewable fuels are urgently needed for this vehicle fleet. The VDA is therefore also calling for an RFNBO sub-quota (hydrogen and synthetic fuels) of at least 5% for 2030.

“The auto industry wants to ensure that, in addition to electric cars, fuels such as biofuels and e-fuels come onto the market in sufficient quantities to make the existing fleets of combustion engine cars climate-friendly,” according to a LinkedIn post by Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe.

Chatzimarkakis: German carmakers want petrol and diesel phased out by 2045

He also noted that the German auto industry is turning away from fossil fuels and that it wants to phase out petrol and diesel by 2045.

In addition to an ambitious design of RED III, the VDA called for supporting measures, such as a long-term reduction target path, with interim targets for 2035 and 2040, and an energy tax reform.

The demands also include an upwardly dynamic greenhouse gas (GHG) quota, meaning that if the quota is exceeded, it automatically increases through a defined mechanism in order to maintain investment incentives in renewable energy sources, according to the statement from the VDA.