The European Union has agreed to limit synthetic fuels in its proposed 2035 ban on the sale of new combustion engine cars. According to the , the bloc reached an agreement with Germany on Saturday to allow automakers to sell new ICE cars after 2035, as long as those vehicles run only on climate-neutral fuels. The agreement ends a dispute that had threatened to undermine the EU’s climate change policy. In early March, the European Parliament that would have codified the proposed ban after Germany, with , said it would not support the mandate without an exemption for synthetic fuels.
“We have reached an agreement with Germany on the future use of e-fuels in cars,” said Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Green Deal. . “We will work now to get CO2 standards for car regulation adopted as soon as possible.” The environmental group Greenpeace criticized the agreement. “This lazy commitment undermines climate protection in transport and harms Europe,” the organization wrote in a statement.
How , the manufacture of synthetic fuels is incredibly energy consuming. Also, without direct air capture technology, fuel e-cars produce almost as many greenhouse emissions as their conventional ICE counterparts. A move away from synthetic fuels could lead to up to 46 million fewer cumulative electric vehicle sales in Europe by 2050 “without providing any additional CO2 savings,” according to one published ahead of Saturday’s announcement. It’s also worth noting that no company is. This is an important point because e-fuels are unlikely to save European drivers money. In 2030, it is estimated that the average EU driver will pay €782 more per year to fill their car tank with synthetic fuel than with conventional gas.
