Germany is about to become a lot less fun if a new series of draft proposals aimed at combating climate change would eliminate segments of the autobahn famous for no speed limit, instead capping drivers at 130 km/h (80 MPH), according to Reuters.
So no more of this:
The proposals would also eliminate a tax break for diesels, raise fuel taxes by 2023, and set quotas on the sale of electric and hybrid cars.
The proposals, outlined in a draft paper seen by Reuters, could prove controversial in car-mad Germany, whose decades-old motorway network is famous for “no limits” sections where drivers can put even the fastest cars through their paces.
Germany could be hit with heavy EU fines if it fails to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and poisonous nitrogen oxides. Transport emissions, which have not fallen since 1990, are a particular target for reductions.
The government is torn between the need to protect Germany’s crucial car industry, buffeted by a series of costly emissions cheating scandals in recent years, and the need to act to protect a rapidly deteriorating climate. –Reuters
The proposals – which are still in their infancy, aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half. The National Platform on the FUture of Mobility is due to reports its findings at the end of March, which German legislators will then incorporate into a climate change law to be enacted later this year.
“Not every instrument and every measure will be accepted,” the draft report acknowledges. “It will take political deftness, diplomatic skill and a willingness to compromise to achieve the climate change goals.”
Ask Macron how hiking fuel taxes have been working out…
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2FIn17Q Tyler Durden