Brussels, 16 December 2025 – The European Commission is making a U-turn on commitments to phase out petrol and diesel cars in the EU. The 2035 ban on sales of new combustion engine cars is being weakened under pressure from Germany, Italy and most European carmakers.
According to media reports, the Commission’s proposal would allow the continued production of combustion engine and hybrid vehicles beyond 2035.The original target for 100% of new cars to have zero emissions by 2035 would be reduced to 90%.
Greenpeace Germany executive director Martin Kaiser said: “This plan is an early Christmas present for Chinese electric car manufacturers, putting millions of European lives and jobs at risk. It may generate short-term returns for the automotive industry, but no long-term future. European car companies would continue to waste money and technology well into the next decade by flogging a dead horse called the combustion engine, while the rest of the world moves further ahead. This backward industrial policy is bad news for jobs, air quality, the climate, and would slow down the supply of affordable electric cars. It would undermine any effort to bring transport CO2-emissions back on a reduction pathway to limit dangerous climate change. Governments and the EU Parliament must stick to their commitments, give the European car industry a future within a sustainable mobility sector, and reject this plan.”
Contacts:
Sabine Beck – Greenpeace Germany press officer: +49-151-10667012, [email protected]
Greenpeace EU press desk: +32 (0)2 274 1911, [email protected]
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Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. We do not accept donations from governments, the EU, businesses or political parties. Greenpeace has over three million supporters, and 26 independent national and regional organisations with offices in more than 55 countries.
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