Europe's combustion-engine reprieve is taking shape, but the latest proposal goes further than the European Commission's original plan. A new agreement between lawmakers would give automakers more flexibility to keep selling ICE-powered vehicles after 2035, marking another retreat from the bloc's original, and rather unrealistic, zero-emissions target.
The compromise, reached by representatives of the European People's Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), and Renew Europe, would require automakers to reduce average CO₂ emissions from new cars by 87.5 percent compared with 2021 levels by 2035. That's less stringent than the European Commission's proposal from last December, which called for a 90 percent reduction.
