Germany drops 'roadmap to biofuels' for cars

The Guardian / Kate Connolly in Berlin
Tuesday April 8 2008
Germany's car lobby insists that around 3.7m cars will be unable to run on the proposed petrol-ethanol fuel mix. Photograph: Sarah Lee
The German government has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown over its plans to lead a worldwide biofuels revolution on the roads after the discovery that too many cars would be unable to run on the proposed ethanol-petrol mix.
The environment minister, Sigmar Gabriel, had planned to introduce the new fuel to motorists next year. It is known as E-10, and 90% of it would consist of petrol and the rest of ethanol.
The proposal was seen as central to Germany's ability to achieve its ambitious climate-protection goals under which it wants 20% of all fuel it uses to be made up of biofuels by 2020.
Experts said that target was now likely to be in jeopardy after the country's powerful car lobby headed by the German Automobile Club, the ADAC, and a group representing car importers, said that around 3.7m cars, approximately 200,000 of which are German-made, would not be able to process the mix.
Gabriel said his "pain threshold", that around one million cars might be unable to cope with the new fuel, had been overstepped. He added that he would rather withdraw his "roadmap to biofuels" than "start a long debate" that would create "new uncertainty over possibilities of refitting" older vehicles and delay "deadlines".
The news is a blow for the minister, known affectionately as Siggy Pop, who saw the directive as central to Germany's efforts to cement its place as an environmental trailblazer. The German government's target is to cut the country's CO2 emissions by 40% within the next 12 years.
Gabriel said the aim had been "to make it possible for the German auto industry to reach its climate protection aims more cheaply". He added that the onus was now on the car industry to make the necessary technical improvements to cars.
His proposal had always been controversial, with critics divided into those who argued that the E-10 fuel would lead to higher costs for drivers, and those who were concerned about the damaging environmental impact of biofuels and its devastating impact on food prices in the developing world.
The suggested legislation would have led in particular to an increase in imports of palm oil and sugar cane from Indonesia and Brazil, where the huge demand for the crops is causing rainforests to shrink.
Commentators say that with Germany's next general election due in 18 months' time, the German government is now viewing some climate protection schemes, which once seemed like vote-winners, as too much of a political risk owing to the high financial costs involved in implementing them.