A decision by the German government ensures that, in addition to the more obvious electric road, renewable fuels can also become an important weapon in the fight to reduce CO2 emissions. The car industry is enthusiastic.
In Germany, the transport sector works with a so-called Treibhausgasminderungsquote, or a ‘greenhouse gas reduction quota’. The quota obliges fuel suppliers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a certain percentage. Raising the targets to 22 percent by 2030 will reduce the pressure on other solutions and increase the spread.
According to the Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA), the contribution of sustainable fuels is crucial. “Without fuel […] we cannot achieve climate-neutral mobility from renewable sources ”, the association said through chairwoman Hildegard Müller. “The climate problem is not the combustion engine, but the fossil fuel itself”.
The VDA also calculates how the future will look like. Assuming 10 million electric cars in Germany by 2030, the share of renewable fuels must increase to 23 percent to achieve the intended targets.
“Renewable fuels” include synthetic variants of petrol or diesel, but also hydrogen. Whether these fuels will ever play a major role for passenger cars is the question, but especially for larger vehicles – trucks, for example – this is widely seen as an important solution. The battery-electric road is much less self-evident for these vehicles, because weight, costs and charging speeds add up quickly.