STRASBOURG (dpa-AFX) - New trucks and buses are to be allowed to emit significantly less climate-damaging CO2 in the EU, according to a proposal by the European Commission. Specifically, the plans call for a 90 percent reduction by 2040 compared to 2019, the Commission announced Tuesday. "In 2050, almost all vehicles on our roads must be emission-free," said Climate Commissioner Frans Timmermans. By 2050, the EU wants to become climate neutral - that is, to emit only CO2 that can also be recaptured.

As interim targets, the Commission proposes that CO2 emissions from heavy-duty vehicles should be reduced by 45 percent by 2030 and 65 percent by 2035. In 2019, the EU had agreed for the first time that it would be mandatory to stipulate how much CO2 heavy commercial vehicles may emit. At that time, a reduction of 30 percent by 2030 had been agreed. The proposal must now be discussed and a compromise reached by the EU member states and the European Parliament.

"With the proposals for CO2 emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, the internal combustion engine escapes its final burial," announced Ulrich Lange, deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag. However, the tightening of limits would hardly be technically feasible.

Criticism of the plan also comes from the German auto industry association VDA. Its president, Hildegard Müller, criticized the Commission's proposal as being extremely ambitious in view of the charging and hydrogen infrastructure available to date. Without more speed in the expansion of the infrastructure, the goal will hardly be achievable./mjm/DP/jha