Paul L., Grade 12
From cars to vans, the EU has embarked on its ambitious goal to make all vehicles electric by 2035. However, is this goal realistic? And is switching to electric vehicles truly the best way to address the problem of climate change?
The European Parliament [E.P.], which is one of the seven European institutions of the European Union [E.U.] (What is the European Parliament?), has been trying to reach the goal of being ‘climate-neutral’ by 2050 and thus there have been multiple discussions about different sectors which attribute to the production of carbon dioxide [CO2]. One of these sectors, the one which this essay focusses on, is the automotive industry (EU). Therefore, when looking at the new proposed E.U. regulation which goes the following ‘all cars and vans sold in the E.U. as of 2035 should not produce any CO2 emissions’ (EU) presents itself as an interesting topic to analyse.
Through the brief explanation of what the regulation is trying to further it suggests that this is something which is beneficial for all states which are in the E.U. and something which all E.U. states want to join, that the climate goal of 2050 is reached. However, this is not the case. The reason for this is of course not as simple compared to the explanation of the regulation yet it can be categorized into four main topics: Sustainability, Economics, Justice, and Climate Change.
Firstly, looking at the idea of Sustainability and how this plays a role in a state’s attitude towards the new regulation, is that it begs to ask the question if it is truly effective. Making sure that cars are climate neutral and do not produce any CO2 will reduce the amount of CO2 produced daily by a large quantity. Although, this is the case the question is where the energy is coming from to sustain the usage of electric cars. The other question being how renewable the batteries are from the electric vehicles, both in the production and then once the car is ‘dead’.
When wanting to understand the topic with the view from an Economic aspect, and what effect this might have for the automotive industry itself it needs to be understood that this topic links directly with the topic of Justice. When taking reference to Germany, specifically Bavaria, there are multiple large automotive concerns which all have their primary revenue from selling cars. If no more cars powered by diesel or gas are allowed to be sold anymore then they lose a large part of their revenue. Therefore, companies could leave their current headquarters for a different area where they would still be allowed to sell their products.
Looking at how the idea of Justice has an influence, the example from above can be taken (Economics). Since the E.P. can only decide what is best for the E.U., it does not hold any power to ratify a regulation in states outside of the E.U. Therefore, it can be said that car companies might say that they would rather relocate to the Americas or Asia. Through this the issue is not addressed however since the companies can continue producing CO2 in different states.
Lastly, the topic of Climate Change affects all three of the topics above. How we as humans continue to use fossil fuels and how the climate develops will in turn effect all other aspects. The reason as to why Climate Change is an important factor is that there are other areas where we produce CO2, for example the cruise ship industry or the cargo shipments from either planes and or boats. States and the automotive industry may say that they want to focus more on these areas since these produce more CO2 and compared to cars.
Whilst thinking of all four factors, Germany for example has said that they would like to make an adjustment to the regulation since otherwise they would not sign onto the regulation. This was that the automotive companies would still be able to sell cars which run on electro fuels [e-fuels] and not be strictly electric (Tagesschau). These fuels are a type of synthetic fuel which are created through using CO2 and combining this with Hydrogen to produce a type of fuel which does not produce any extra CO2 (EFuels).
In conclusion, it can be said that what this regulation is advocating for and what its purpose is, is primarily positive. Currently, the regulation is in effect, and it looks like the E.U. is on track to reach their goal for 2035. Even though there were issues on how this would be set into effect and what implications it would have a consensus was reached. The E.P. have set up a path to slowly reduce the carbon production and to achieve the goal of becoming ‘climate-neutral’ by 2050. All four of these aspects are points which needed to be considered that the final consensus was reached. This discussion furthers the regulation since as for example with Germany a new idea was added which is another option which can be explored and worked with.
Bibliography:
“EFuels – EFuel Alliance.” Efuel-Alliance.eu, 2019, www.efuel-alliance.eu/efuels. Accessed 19 Oct. 2023.
“EU Ban on Sale of New Petrol and Diesel Cars from 2035 Explained | News | European Parliament.” Europa.eu, 11 Mar. 2022, www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/economy/20221019STO44572/eu-ban-on-sale-of-new-petrol-and-diesel-cars-from-2035-explained. Accessed 18 Oct. 2023.
Tagesschau.de. “EU Beschließt Weitgehendes Verbrenner-Aus.” Tagesschau.de, tagesschau.de, 28 Mar. 2023, www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/eu-beschliesst-verbrenner-kompromiss-101.html. Accessed 19 Oct. 2023.