Majority of Germans against combustion engine ban 2035 in the EU
Berlin (dpa) – The planned phase-out of new cars with internal combustion engines in Europe from 2035 is met with widespread rejection among Germans. According to a survey by the polling institute YouGov commissioned by the German Press Agency, 44 percent of respondents demand that the German government advocate against the ban on new diesel and gasoline cars.
Only a quarter in favor of the combustion engine phase-out in 2035
Another 19 percent want the government to push for a postponement. Only 24 percent expect the government to advocate for maintaining the regulation in 2035.
A total of 2,057 eligible voters in Germany were surveyed between September 12 and 15, 2025. According to the institute, the survey is representative.
From 2035, no new cars with gasoline or diesel engines will be allowed in the EU, as decided in 2022. The goal is to reduce CO2 emissions in the transport sector. In Germany, representatives from the conservative governing parties CDU and CSU and the business sector are particularly pressuring to reverse the EU decision.
The planned phase-out of combustion engines found majority support in the survey only among supporters of the Greens and the Left, while the strongest opposition came from voters of the right-wing AfD.
Does climate protection make life more expensive?
A clear majority of respondents, 60 percent, also believe that climate protection will make life in Germany more expensive in the long term. A total of 13 percent expect no impact on the cost of living. 17 percent think climate protection will make life cheaper in the long run.
Nevertheless, there is some support for climate protection. 36 percent of respondents wish the government would do more, 29 percent are satisfied with the current course, and 24 percent expect less commitment to climate issues.
The Earth’s temperature last year was, according to EU figures, 1.6 degrees above the temperature of the pre-industrial era. At the Paris Climate Conference in 2015, the global community set the goal of limiting warming to as close to 1.5 degrees as possible, but at least to well below 2 degrees. Scientists consider this increasingly unrealistic. (September 21)
