EU treads fine line on green goals

Plan to ban polluting cars hailed even as spike in fossil-fuel use conceded

The European Union is moving toward a ban on combustion engines by 2035 in the hope that short-term compromises taken by member states to deal with the energy crisis will not imperil its long-term goal of climate neutrality by 2050.

The environment ministers of the bloc's 27 member states endorsed a "historic" agreement in Luxembourg on June 29 to cut the CO2 emissions of new cars in the EU to zero.

The agreement, reached after 17 hours of intense negotiations, included a compromise requested by some member states, such as Germany and Italy, to give the green light to alternative technologies such as synthetic fuels, also known as e-fuels.