The European Union presented its green transport plan: they will stop selling combustion engines in 2035

The European Union (EU) on Wednesday launched the foundations for its ecological transformation, with a package of proposals that includes the end of the sale of combustion engine cars by 2035.

The broad plan aims to help achieve the goal of reducing carbon emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990, achieving neutrality by 2050, and for this it will gradually introduce requirements which will promote the exit of gasoline or diesel cars from the scene. . “All new cars registered since 2035 will have zero (gas) emissions“Says the statement.

The European economy based on fossil fuels “has come to an end”, European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen said during the presentation of the executive’s legislative proposal for the European Union to achieve climate neutrality in 2050.

“CO2 emissions must come at a price“It works as an incentive to move towards cleaner technologies,” said Von der Leyen, summing up a broad regulatory package that “combines the reduction of emissions with measures to preserve nature and put jobs and social balance at the top. heart of this transformation ”.

The Brussels proposal, which will then have to be negotiated with the Council of the EU, which represents the Member States, and with the European Parliament, consists of thirteen major proposals ranging from electric vehicles to energy taxation, via the CO2 emissions market or the development of sustainable biofuels.

For the airline industry, the European Commission has proposed to gradually tax the fuel used on flights within the European Union, with the aim of forcing a reduction in emissions in the sector. The tax would be implemented over ten years, while the minimum target for the use of biofuels in airplanes would be raised and the free “pollution permits” enjoyed by the sector would disappear.

To another extent, the EU executive also proposed to create a special carbon market that would represent a increase in fuel prices for road transport or heating oil.

“The goal is to make the EU the first climate neutral continent with a new growth strategy to achieve itVon der Leyen added when presenting the proposal that shapes the EU’s commitment derived from the 2015 Paris agreement to limit temperature increases to less than 2 degrees by the end of the century .

For his part, the Vice-President of the Commission in charge of the Green Deal, Frans Timmermas, He acknowledged that it will be “hard” and “difficult”, but it is the “obligation” of European citizens in the face of the emergence of an ecologically exhausted planet. “Otherwise, we will fail our children and our grandchildren because if we don’t fix this, in my opinion, they will wage wars for food and water,” the community vice president said.

“The rest of the world is watching us, they are following us,” he concluded.

(With information from EFE and AFP)

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