EU lawmakers support a ban on cars with internal combustion engines in 2035

The European Parliament has supported a proposed ban on the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines in 2035, seeking to step up the fight against climate change through faster development of electric vehicles, reports AP.

The Assembly of the European Union voted in Strasbourg, France, to demand that carmakers reduce their carbon emissions by 100% by the middle of the next decade. The mandate would amount to a prohibition on the sale in the 27-nation bloc of new cars powered by gasoline or diesel.

EU lawmakers have also supported a 55% reduction in CO2 emissions from cars in 2030 compared to 2021. This step deepens existing automotive commitments to reduce CO2 emissions by an average of 37.5% at the end of the decade compared to last year.

Environmentalists welcomed the parliament’s decision. Alliance Transport&Brussels-based Environment said the vote provided “a real chance to prevent drastic climate change”.

But a lobby group for the German car industry, VDA, has criticized the vote, saying it ignores the lack of charging infrastructure in Europe. The group also said the vote was a “solution against innovation and technology”, citing industry demands that synthetic fuels be banned, but European lawmakers rejected the proposal.

If approved by the EU, the 2035 deadline will be particularly difficult for German automakers, which have focused on powerful and expensive vehicles with internal combustion engines while falling behind foreign competitors when it comes to electric vehicles.

Last year, the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, proposed a target to reduce CO2 emissions by 2030 and ban internal combustion engines by 2035. Cars account for about 12% of Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for increasing and intense waves of heat, storms and floods related to climate change.