this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
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I am really conflicted about this. On one hand I get that green policies are instrumental in stopping climate change before it's too late. On the other I know some people who work in the automotive industry and they all agree that we shot ourselves in the foot with this regulation. We ended up being the only committed ~~nation~~ block (whatever) while anyone else (namely China, India and the USA) kept doing little or nothing, token contributions if any, but few long run plans like we did.
Surely there is lots of lobbying from the car industry behind this EPP decision, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was also the genuine intention of many voters. Our industry is already falling behind, being the only ones concerned with green policies isn't helpful at all, it just allows everyone else to outcompete us.
That is how they argue in kindergarten
It prohibits sales of fossil fuel cars in the EU to final customers. Companies can still design them and sell them abroad. There is nothing illegal about that. What this does do is bring EU auto makers into a position, where they have to invest into green technologies. The important thing is that it is the right thing to do and we know how. So if we do not do it, other countries will and by being the leaders, we will have the best technology or at least have a good shot at it.
Obviously a lot of suppliers are going to have problems with it. When you built combustion engines, you have a hard time transitioning. However we also have demographic labour shortages, which means that it is a good step for us.
If the EU played it that way on every issue, it would be a much shittier place to live.
A great example is the worker protections many of us enjoy here. We could be more competitive with shittier countries on that front and drive down worker benefits and quality of life, but who wants to live like the working class in China or even a lot of the US? It's god awful. Doing all your policy based on the desires of industry is a recipe for dystopia.
So you are only ready to do the only right thing as soon as all the others are on board? How about doing the right thing regardless?
Someone needs to lead the way. How is being more virtuous shooting ourselves in the foot, exactly?
Let me clarify. It's great on an environmental standpoint, it's quite terrible on an industrial and commercial one. If we are the only ones imposing climate regulation, businesses and industries will move abroad where it's cheaper to operate. I'm not saying scrapping the green deal laws is a good thing, but I am saying that I can see the logic behind it. And it's not because of the evil capitalism either, it's a desperate attempt for European industry to stay relevant on the global stage.
You are completely ignoring, that the automotive industries could have seen the writing on the wall and switch to engineering electric vehicles years ago. They didn't because they were complacent and now they are in trouble, because Tesla and the Chinese are leading the market. It's the industries mindset of "if we fuck up, the government is gonna bail us out, because it needs our economic power", that lead us into this problem.
What are you even talking about exactly. EU regulations for what cars are allowed will be exactly the same whether the cars are manufactured in the EU or elsewhere. And carmakers already have different factories in different regions of the world to serve each market.
Honestly, without some strict rules for European and US car manufacturers to get their shit together, they're only going to fall ever further behind China, which has the biggest EV manufacturer already. Fossil fuel burning combustion engines don't have any future anyway, because fossil fuels are finite, the climate crisis is accelerating ever further and EV are getting more and more competitive (they're already cheaper in the long run for mid and higher class cars). Carmakers aren't being done any favours by allowing them to drag their feet and become ever more obsolete.
Scrapping the green deal is the worst case scenario. Because it's a very weak attempt to start with. It's too littke, too late as is.
Business as usual will cost many times as much.
Forget the economy. There's more at stake than the f*ing automotive industry!