The EU regulation stipulates that no more CO2 may be emitted when driving a car.
(Photo: dpa)
At the weekend, a British minister suggested that ChatGPT draft legislation. But at least the most tricky regulatory task that the EU is currently facing, the chatbot fails.
The law on the CO2 fleet limits for cars, also known as “combustion engine off”, was actually supposed to be finally passed this Tuesday and was postponed indefinitely due to the blockade of the FDP. The EU Commission should be tasked with finding a regulation for vehicles that are only fueled with climate-neutral fuels.
The artificial intelligence behind the ChatGPT failed to distinguish these vehicles from normal electric cars. The discussion in Brussels is a little further along. It should primarily be about e-fuels, i.e. liquids produced using electricity that are very similar to diesel and petrol. In the best case, however, these should only release as much CO2 when burned as they absorbed during their production.
Even with this hint, ChatGPT did not get much further. After all, e-diesel is very similar to fossil diesel and e-gasoline to fossil gasoline. So how should a car that only runs on e-fuels differ from a car that runs on fossil fuels? The vehicles “would likely look similar,” the chatbot correctly said, “since they would use the same internal combustion engine technology.”
Therein lies one of the two problems in this matter: nobody really knows what is being discussed at all. There is no prototype for such a car. There is also no start-up that would promote e-gasoline detection or anything like that. Or an FDP paper that proposes a special shape for new e-fuel tank nozzles.
“The Chancellor must not accept that”
The other problem is the federal government’s approach, which is unanimously seen in Brussels as a 180-degree turn, a U-turn or even a breach of promise. The chairman of the Environment Committee in the European Parliament, Pascal Canfin, joined the debate on Monday. The situation is absolutely unacceptable.
Christoph Herwartz, correspondent in the Handelsblatt office in Brussels, analyzes trends and conflicts, regulatory projects and strategic concepts from the inner workings of the EU. Because anyone interested in business needs to know what’s going on in Brussels. You can reach him at: [email protected]
Against the will of Parliament, the EU states had negotiated the sentence with e-fuels by copy-and-paste from the German coalition agreement into law. And now the German FDP is holding up the law. Canfin sees only one who can solve the problem: “The Chancellor must not accept that,” he said. Like the FDP MPs, Canfin is a member of the liberal Renew parliamentary group.
The CDU is also shaking its head. The German conservatives tried to stop the ban on internal combustion engines in the European Parliament.
However, they see the maneuvers of the FDP critically. Among them is Peter Liese (CDU). He believes “that for minimal progress, huge damage is being done here,” said the environmental policy spokesman for the European People’s Party. “The public dispute over many climate protection issues is damaging to the cause and reducing Germany’s influence in Europe.”
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The Conservatives had proposed reducing the CO2 emissions of new cars not by 100 but only by 90 percent. That would have allowed all manufacturers to offer individual combustion models indefinitely. But most CDU members have long since given up. He “under no circumstances” expects the legislation to be reopened, says Liese.
More: That’s what the argument about e-fuels is about