Shell and VW are claiming that biofuels are the way to green the industry, not electric cars. As a result of the Paris summit, two new fuel efficiency targets have been set – 1 for 2025 the other for 2030. Executives of the two companies are claiming that CO2 labeling and emissions trading systems will be more effective.
EU sources claim that this would prevent real action on car emissions for more than the next ten years. VW head of research Ulrich Eichhorn claims that the current use of electric cars are nothing more than stepping stones whereas biofuels are needed in large numbers. He added that natural gas and diesel will be required until 2020 to meet CO2 targets, and they will be needed to a lesser degree after that.
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Roland Berge, the author of The Auto Fuels Coalition, is pessimistic when it comes to the cost of being fuel efficient but also very optimistic regarding greenhouse gas emissions. Some biofuels are three times as dirty as diesel. An EU source was a little cynical about the study, saying that it was evident what the results would be as soon as you knew who was paying for the research.
Recent declarations from Saudi Arabia show that they intend to stop depending upon oil as early as 2030. Colin Crookes at Shell, however, believes that liquid fuel will be needed for the foreseeable future. He goes on to insist that government finance will be required to support new fuels.