Internal combustion engine phase-out

In order to achieve the climate goals, the transport sector must be decarbonised as quickly as possible. It will be essential to replace large parts of the vehicle fleet that, up to now, has been powered by fossil fuels. But so far, the amount of electric cars on the streets is still marginal – despite government subsidies and purchase premiums. The Bundestag parliamentary group of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen is campaigning for stricter measures and wants to ensure that from 2030 only emission-free cars will be registered.

On behalf of the parliamentary group, IKEM prepared a legal study that examined the feasability of various options for the implementation of an internal combustion engine phase-out in Germany. Particular attention was paid to a 100% electric car quota as a “positive rule” and a ban on admission as a “negative rule”. The study comes to the conclusion that, in order to maintain proportionality, a phase-out of combustion engines can only be implemented by means of a gradually increasing quota for electric cars that will need to be accompanied by additional government measures.