"Stringently pursuing sustainability goals is politically necessary, also with a view to emissions in the mobility sector. However, this right approach must not lead to further collateral damage.
The impact of the current EU plans to reform CO2 fleet limits on other fields of application, such as agricultural machinery and tractors, is apparently being completely ignored in Brussels. Unlike in the passenger car segment, drive alternatives to the internal combustion engine are by no means in sight, especially for heavy and powerful agricultural machinery.
Combine harvesters, for example, will continue to rely on liquid energy sources with high energy density in the foreseeable future, even beyond the planned phase-out of internal combustion engines in 2035, due to their operating profile. After all, these machines have to run reliably almost around the clock during the harvesting campaign, which only lasts a few weeks a year.
Provided that we do not rely on fossil fuels but on sustainable e-fuels as well as fuels of biogenic origin, agricultural machinery and tractors with modern and efficient combustion engines can also be operated with virtually zero emissions and, in the near future, in a climate-neutral manner.
If the planned EU fleet regulation for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles is implemented in the form currently envisaged, this could also have far-reaching consequences for the agricultural industry.
On the one hand, it is to be feared that investments in alternative fuels will not be made, which means that the necessary economies of scale in fuel production cannot be realized. On the other hand, it is already foreseeable that a creeping loss of know-how in research and development, but also in production, could set in: In the medium term, the problem-free availability of modern combustion engines could be at stake. In any case, however, Europe's position as a production and development location for the internal combustion engine and its peripherals would be acutely endangered, which is by no means a desirable scenario given the unrivaled high level of technology and sustainability of European companies.
What we need now are reliable framework conditions for sustainable investments in research, development and production. After all, the opportunities for climate-friendly use of combustion engines offered by e-fuels and biofuels when used in agriculture are obvious. We want to actively exploit them – in a way that is open to technology and results-oriented."
