The transport minister ranks sixth in the company car check with his Audi A8 L 60 TFSI e quattro.
(Photo: Reuters)
Berlin New cars in the European Union are only allowed to emit a maximum of 95 grams of CO2 per kilometer (g/km) on average. But the federal government’s fleet of company cars is not a role model in this regard.
Of the nine vehicles owned by the federal ministers, seven clearly exceed the CO2 fleet limit on the road. This is shown by the “company car check” published in Berlin this Thursday by the German Environmental Aid (DUH). The organization regularly evaluates the company cars of politicians at federal and state level for environmental compatibility.
This year, the “Check” is based on the information on a total of 205 company cars belonging to 247 politicians. According to the DUH, the evaluation is based on the “New European Driving Cycle” (NEDC). This value is decisive for compliance with the EU-wide binding fleet limit for new car registrations.
The DUH ranking is based on the emission of exhaust gases in “real driving”, explains the environmental aid. The basis for this was calculations by the non-profit organization “International Council on Clean Transportation” (ICCT).
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For vehicles with a partially electric or fully electric drive, the CO2 content of the German electricity mix according to information from the Federal Environment Agency for 2020 was used.
These are the main results:
Taillights in the Federal Cabinet
In last place is Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD). Your petrol BMW 750Li xDrive puts 330 g/km on the road. Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD), Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) and Federal Minister of Transport Volker Wissing (FDP) did not fare much better with their Audi plug-in hybrids. Wissing’s A8 sedan emits 258 g/km.
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As in previous years, “specially protected limousines” with CO2 emissions between 260 and 421 g/km are not included in the list. These cars are available to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens), Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) and the Foreign and Interior Ministers, Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Nancy Faeser (SPD), as well as the Health Ministers Karl Lauterbach (SPD), and finance, Christian Lindner (FDP), available.
DUH Federal Managing Director Barbara Metz criticized the fact that many members of the government rely on plug-in hybrids instead of economical electric vehicles. “Even though they know that these vehicles are only economical on paper, but are particularly harmful to the climate in real operation,” said Metz. “If the traffic light doesn’t want to lose all credibility, it has to switch quickly and consistently to really climate-friendly company cars.”
At 208 g/km on the road, the average CO2 emissions of the federal ministries are still well above the EU fleet limit and have changed little compared to 2021. Last year, average emissions were 229 g/km.
Green Özdemir and Lemke below the limit
Only the Federal Ministers of the Greens, Cem Özdemir and Steffi Lemke, offer rays of hope in the federal cabinet with climate-friendly pure electric cars. State Secretary Jennifer Morgan (Foreign Office), Sven Giegold and Udo Philipp (both Economics and Climate Protection Ministries) do without personal company cars.
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taillights in the countries
Things are not looking much better in the federal states than in the federal government. This year, three politicians share the negative front-runner position in the overall ranking: Hesse’s Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU), Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) and North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) each chose an Audi A8 as their company car, which, according to the DUH, puts real CO2 emissions on the road at 488 g/km.
Top spot in the overall ranking
Berlin’s Senator for the Environment Bettina Jarasch (Greens) took the top spot in the overall ranking with a Tesla Model 3, followed by Tobias Lindner (Greens), Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, with a Mercedes-Benz EQS 450+. The Greens politicians Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Priska Hinz, Minister of the Environment in Hesse, share third place.
Special mention goes to Hinz, who reduced her consumption by changing vehicles from 258 g/km CO2 to 69 g/km in real operation. And Winfried Kretschmann from Baden-Württemberg also stands out. He is the only head of state government with his electric Mercedes-Benz EQS 580 4MATIC that is below the EU fleet limit.
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