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| Alternative Enery Car Industry - a win-win situation |
Pollution from cars, including those with diesel engines, has become a sensitive subject in Germany since Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) admitted to systematic cheating of emissions tests to mask levels of health threatening nitrogen oxides.
Cities such as Munich and Stuttgart are looking at banning older diesel cars, whose emissions they blame for causing an increase in respiratory diseases.
The Ifo study, published on Tuesday, said a switch to sales of zero-emission cars would threaten 426,000 car manufacturing jobs, with the rest coming from related industries, such as suppliers.
Two months before Germany's national elections, the government faces growing pressure to reduce emissions or face complete bans on diesel cars in some cities. Representatives of federal and regional governments will meet with carmakers on Aug. 2 to find ways to curb diesel-related pollution
Note EU-Digest: the study by the IFO is somewhat controversial, and one could even call it questionable, specially when it comes to the potential employment loss. Switching from combustion cars to other environmentally friendly automobiles, like electric or hydrogen powered cars, will certainly not cause a drop in the production of cars. To the contrary,it might even increase employment in the automobile industry, and most of all be a win-win when it comes to cleaning up the environment.
For the full Report read more: Combustion engine ban puts 600,000 German jobs at risk: Ifo
