In the future, customers should be able to better assess the effects of cars on the climate before buying a car. In addition, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) is aiming for significantly improved consumer information that is supplemented by other important information, as the German Press Agency learned on Friday from circles in the ministry. The Ministry of Economic Affairs initiated the departmental coordination. Specifically, it is about an amendment to the regulation on energy consumption labeling for cars.
The goal: A contribution should be made to ensure that consumers can make a new car purchase “in full knowledge” and decide on the most efficient vehicle models, as the ministry said. There should be further incentives for car manufacturers to develop cars that are as efficient as possible and to bring them onto the market. This is another step towards a more sustainable and low-emission transport sector.
The ordinance regulates the type and format of information on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions from a new passenger car. The information must be made available by manufacturers and dealers for new passenger cars, and there is also talk of a “climate label”.
“child child” traffic
The transport sector is considered a “problem child” when it comes to climate protection. In the past year, the permissible annual emission level for the emission of climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions was exceeded.
At the end of March, the leaders of the coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP agreed to reform the “climate label”. The background is also a Europe-wide conversion of test measurement methods for determining consumption and emission data. It is a ministerial regulation of the Ministry of Economics, which can be issued in agreement with the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Transport and requires the approval of the Federal Council.
Similar to household appliances, cars in car dealerships have long been labeled as to how much fuel a car – or in the case of an electric car, electricity – uses and how much CO2 it emits. This is shown in colored bars from green to red – to be able to compare vehicles with each other. The previous system has major weaknesses, according to the criticism. The ADAC had explained that the current classification based on the vehicle’s unladen weight has so far given preference to heavy cars. Low-consumption small cars are often marked “red”, large cars with high consumption as “green”. That creates confusion, a correction of the regulation is inevitable.
Now, according to the draft of the ordinance, there are concrete plans: New CO2 classes for cars are to be introduced based on the absolute CO2 emissions of a car – this should enable customers to better classify the effects of the envisaged cars on the climate, as it is from ministry circles was called.
The classification should be done with a color scale based on absolute CO2 emission values. Every passenger car is to be divided into a class from “A” (zero emissions, green) to “G” (high emissions, red). This is intended to replace the “relative scale” used in the past, which included the weight of the vehicle. “The new classification prevents particularly large and heavy cars from being classified in a better CO2 class than significantly lighter vehicles with the same high emissions due to their weight,” the ministry said.
In the city or on the freeway?
Also planned: For each type of drive, i.e. diesel, petrol or purely electric cars, there should be a separate car label template with drive-specific information. Also new is that information on energy consumption is provided for four different driving modes – namely: inner-city, outskirts, country road and motorway.
In order to warn customers of “cost traps”, there should be a statement of the cumulative assumed CO2 costs over the next ten years with an annual mileage of 15,000 kilometers. According to the ministry, this should make it clear what cost burdens could arise for consumers as a result of future CO2 pricing of fossil fuels. “According to studies and scenarios, a significant increase in CO2 prices is expected in the future, which will be reflected in higher fuel prices.”
Greenpeace traffic expert Benjamin Stephan said that with the regulation, Habeck created an important piece of clarity about the actual climate costs of a car. “For buyers, the greater transparency is a clear improvement over the previous darkroom.” However, there are implausible assumptions in the draft regulation. For example, only the CO2 price for the emissions of the first ten years should be given, while cars in Germany are now driven for an average of 15 to 20 years. “As a result, vehicles with lower acquisition costs – but higher ongoing CO2 costs – petrol and diesel – perform unrealistically well.”
Critical
The federal manager of the German Environmental Aid, Jürgen Resch, criticized that the main wishes of the car industry had been fulfilled. In the case of efficiency classes for all-electric cars, of all things, no incentives should be created for low power consumption. In the future, direct display of consumption data should no longer be necessary for Internet advertising.
Stefan Gerwens, Head of the Transport Department at ADAC, said that ADAC would like to see some changes in the draft. However, it is crucial that the CO2 label at the car dealer should show how efficiently the various cars use fuel and provide information on energy costs.
