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14 Key projects in the “Fit for 55” package are the reform of the existing European Emis- sions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), a new emissions trading scheme for buildings and transport similar to the German Fuel Emissions Trading Act, the introduction of a CO2 border adjustment mechanism for energy-intensive and trade-intensive import sectors to prevent corbon leakage, the grad- ual introduction of the kerosene tax, and the further tightening of CO2 emission limits for cars and vans. The last point is particularly sensitive, because up to now their manufac- turers have had to reduce the average CO2 emissions of their new car fleets by 37.5 per- cent by 2030 compared to 2021 levels. The Commission now wants to raise this interim “Fit for 55”: Ambitious EU climate protection targets increase trans- formation pressure By Dr. Carsten Meier, Managing Director IHK Saarland and Member of the board of autoregion e.V. It was only a matter of time that the custom of giving laws euphonious names in order to increase their acceptance among the population would also arrive in Brussels. Now the time has come: “Fit for 55”. This does not mean a work- out program for best agers or the hip advertising slogan of a health insurance company. Rather, it is the draft of a package of twelve legislative initiatives with which the EU Commission in mid-July specified and tightened the path to the declared goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050: 55 percent less CO2 emissions by 2030. Image: © IHK Saarland target to 55 percent. From 2035, newly reg- istered vehicles will no longer be allowed to emit any grams of CO2 at all, which would effectively amount to a registration ban. This approach by the EU Commission is com- pletely unnecessary for a number of rea- sons and is also highly questionable from the point of view of the subsidiarity principle, as a number of member states have already set national phase-out dates. For example, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden. What at first glance may cause some to rejoice from a climate protection perspec- tive is a cause of serious concern for many economists, decision-makers in industry, as well as employees and consumers. Because part from any potential opportunities for green tech companies, implementation would entail considerable risks for growth, prosperity and employment in large parts of our industrial base – especially in areas where the consequences of the structural transformation are already being felt and are likely to intensify in the coming years, includ- ing the Saarland and the entire Grande Ré- gion. For all companies and consumers, the foreseeable further increase in CO2 prices and thus greater pressure to reduce energy consumption, use renewable energy sourc- es and switch to lower-emission production processes will have a negative impact. Im- plementing the ambitious climate package will not come free of charge. On the con- trary, it will cost companies and consumers billions of euros without even coming close to compensating for the additional costs. Even taking into account the fact that it is to receive 25 percent of the revenues from emissions trading, the envisaged climate social fund would be completely undercap- italized in terms of need. The inadequate consideration of the social consequences is therefore one of the biggest points of crit- icism. Improvements must be made quickly here, as otherwise the acceptance of the measures would suffer and there could also be considerable social distortions. No less critical, both from a regulatory and an automotive perspective, is the violation of the principle of technological openness – a principle that the Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been advocating for many years in close cooperation with the leading associations of German industry and the autoregion association. After all, the reduc- tion of CO2 emission to zero which serves the goal of accelerating the full market pen- etration of electric vehicles, in practice also means the end of combustion engines and hybrids. What the market alone is unable to achieve for various reasons, be it be- cause consumers have other preferences or because battery electric vehicles are not competitive under market conditions, is thus once again being pushed – not to say forced – by government intervention. The fact that the expansion of the charging infrastructure is being massively promoted at the same time, on the other hand, is little consolation. After all, it is not the internal combustion en- gine itself that causes the climate problem, but the fuels derived from energy sources, the use of which contributes to global warm- ing. Synthetic fuels, on the other hand, do not cause CO2 emissions – provided they are produced using green electricity. Inci- dentally, the same also applies to the direct combustion of green hydrogen. The task of policymakers should therefore be to cre- ate the conditions for conventional internal combustion engines (piston engines) to be powered in a climate-neutral manner. In this way, 48 million gasoline and diesel vehicles currently on the roads in Germany alone (1.5 billion worldwide) could make a very sig- nificant contribution to climate protection relatively quickly. But not only the existing vehicle fleet, but also the network of refin- eries and filling stations could continue to be operated with the so-called e-fuels. We could therefore continue to use assets that have already been created instead of – to put it bluntly – devaluing them overnight. Dr. Carsten Meier, Managing Director IHK Saarland and Member of the board of autoregion e.V.