BERLIN, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Proposals by Germany's Green Party to ban combustion engines from 2030 onwards would negatively impact the country's growth and employment, a study published Tuesday by the Munich-based Ifo Institute for Economic Research showed for German car industry association VDA.
The authors claimed that more than 600,000 industrial jobs, or ten percent of the sector's total, would be directly or indirectly affected by a move to outlaw such engines in 2030. Of this, 436,000 jobs would be directly threatened.
The Green party has proposed banning combustion engines as a means of promoting environmentally-friendly electric mobility.
While the Ifo Institute director Clemens Fuest shared the Green party's concern for combating climate change, he voiced skepticism that bans were an appropriate solution.
"Eliminating competition between different environmental protection technologies with bans wastes resources and undermines efforts to combat climate change," Fuest said.
Similarly, VDA president Matthias Wissmann argued that efficient combustion engines and electric vehicles were not enemies. "Both are necessary if we want to achieve the ambitious goals [of the Paris climate accord]."
Wissmann further noted that combustion engines may be able to be powered with fuel from regenerative sources in the future.
The automotive industry is one of the largest employers in Germany.
