There’s a Diesel Cloud Hanging Over Angela Merkel

With her support of the Paris climate accord and decision to shutter Germany’s nuclear power plants, Angela Merkel has earned a reputation abroad as the “climate chancellor.” But throughout her 13 years in office, Merkel has had a blind spot when it comes to the auto industry—which employs more than 800,000 people in her country—embracing German carmakers and continuing to champion diesel even after Volkswagen AG admitted three years ago to cheating on emissions tests. Merkel has long been more “car chancellor” than climate chancellor, says Jürgen Trittin, a former Green Party environment minister, and today her auto policies are “crashing into pieces.”

While recent elections indicate Merkel’s power is ebbing, her position is being complicated by a growing number of court rulings poised to ban diesel cars from city centers. For two decades, German auto manufacturers touted diesel as a green technology, mostly because it offers 20 percent to 25 percent better fuel efficiency than similar gasoline-powered cars, releasing less carbon dioxide. But that comes at the cost of nitrogen oxide emissions that have been linked to heart disease, strokes, and respiratory problems. Environmental groups have lodged dozens of anti-diesel lawsuits, and judges have ruled in favor of limiting the use of diesels in a half-dozen cities, including Berlin, Frankfurt, and Munich. “Merkel has totally misjudged the problem for a long time,” says Jürgen Resch, executive director of Deutsche Umwelthilfe, an environmental group that’s brought many of the lawsuits. “The government totally surrendered to the auto industry.”