Hot air? Germany considers vehicle emissions trading[fr][de] 

Germany's Deputy Economy Minister Joachim Wuermeling on 14 September told the Berliner Zeitung that his government is adament about achieving ambitious CO2 emissions reductions from European vehicle emissions, and that automakers will ultimately face a choice of either "sanctions or participation in an EU emissions trading scheme".   

Wuermeling's comments came a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a speech at the International Automobile Exhibition in Frankfurt calling on automakers to reduce CO2 emissions "at every part of the automobile".

The Commission evoked the possibility of including light and heavy vehicles in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) in its February Communication , following statements in January by Industry Commissioner Verheugen that this could provide an alternative means to achieve vehicle CO2 reductions (EurActiv 22/01/07).

According to the Berliner Zeitung, the idea is considered by the Commission as a "logical and efficient instrument".

But even if proposed by the Commission, it remains uncertain if such a system would be 'closed' (meaning carbon allowances are traded between carmakers), or 'open' (which would imply the inclusion of cars in EU ETS more broadly), opening up possible complications with respect to integrating vehicles with CO2 trading in other industries. An earlier debate on including aviation in EU-ETS has touched on similar issues, and is therefore likely to prove highly controversial (see our LinksDossier).

A Commission spokesperson told EurActiv that the EU executive has "little to say" on the issue for the moment, and that it is awaiting the outcome of an extensive impact assessment before publishing its proposal on a revised EU-ETS in December.

UK Liberal MEP Chris Davies, the rapporteur on the file for Parliament's Environment (ENVI) Committee, favours the creation of a closed carbon-trading system for the auto industry. An amendment adopted last week (12 September) by the Parliament's Environment Committee in its report on CO2 reductions for vehicles calls for "a new closed-market mechanism" starting in 2011, "through which manufacturers and importers will be required to pay financial penalties in proportion to any exceedence per car sold of the emissions limits and that these penalties may be offset by redeemable credits awarded to newly registered passenger cars of the same manufacturer with emissions below the limit value curve".

But Sigrid de Vries of ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturer's Association, said that the auto industry is opposed to any kind of closed system. ACEA is not in principle opposed to a link with EU-ETS in an open-trading system, but the organisation also wants to "look at all options carefully".  

Jos Dings of Transport & Environment (T&E) said that adding vehicles to EU-ETS is "bad idea" and "a recipe for making the system unworkable". Dings told EurActiv that the EU's carbon trading system is not suited for the inclusion of vehicles since carbon prices and trading mechanisms are geared mostly towards large installations. "Once again carmakers are trying to wriggle out of their responsibilities by pushing to get access to cheap EU-ETS credits so they can carry on selling gas guzzlers", Dings said in a statement.