Monday was supposed to be the day that the EU's environment ministers gathered to sign an agreement that would place intense carbon emissions limits on car makers by the year 2020. Instead, the opposite happened. Pressure from German automakers, as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the English government was enough to get the agreement delayed.
The limits would have made it so that automakers had to have an automotive fleet average of 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. That 2020 target represents a 40 percent reduction from the fleet average in 2007.
BMW and Daimler decided that they were not going to meet these intense standards by 2020 and called up their friend Ms. Merkel to get the agreement delayed. Meanwhile, Volkswagen, Ford, and Toyota all agreed to the law.
Environmental groups are understandably upset.
Do you think these emissions standards are too extreme? Or are car makers just loathe to create more efficient vehicles because they are afraid they won't sell well?
The limits would have made it so that automakers had to have an automotive fleet average of 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. That 2020 target represents a 40 percent reduction from the fleet average in 2007.
BMW and Daimler decided that they were not going to meet these intense standards by 2020 and called up their friend Ms. Merkel to get the agreement delayed. Meanwhile, Volkswagen, Ford, and Toyota all agreed to the law.
Environmental groups are understandably upset.
Do you think these emissions standards are too extreme? Or are car makers just loathe to create more efficient vehicles because they are afraid they won't sell well?
