Germany plans to vote in favour of EU plans to cut truck emissions, government sources said, after Berlin's stance was unclear earlier this week following disagreement within the three-way coalition.
"There is white smoke," a government representative told Reuters.
The European Council and Parliament last month agreed a provisional deal for a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions from heavy-duty vehicles by 2040 compared to 2019 levels.
A vote in Brussels on a provisional deal had been planned for Wednesday (7 February) but was delayed until Friday (9 February).
German government representatives said on Friday that the transport ministry, the portfolio of the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), had given up its resistance to a compromise.
Transport minister Volker Wissing had expressed objections to the plans, and that he wanted to allow climate-neutral e-fuels - like e-kerosene, e-methane, or e-methanol, which are made by synthesising captured CO2 emissions and hydrogen - to count towards this target.
In agreement with other EU states, there should now be a kind of protocol note or footnote on the use of e-fuels, though this will not change the core of the project, said the sources.
EU Postpones Decision
Elsewhere, the European Union countries have postponed a decision on a proposed law requiring large companies in the bloc to check if their supply chains use forced labour or cause environmental damage and rectify this if they do.
"The item of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (...) has been taken off today's [9 February] agenda and will be rescheduled to a date yet to be announced," a spokesperson for the Belgian presidency said on social media platform X.
A 'qualified majority' of 15 EU countries representing 65% of the EU population is needed for the corporate sustainability due diligence directive to proceed to a final vote in the European Parliament. Lawmakers are expected to support it.
