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.