24 states, six major car manufacturers as well as some cities and investors want to set an end date for cars with internal combustion engines at the world climate conference in Glasgow this Wednesday.

The British government announced this as the host in a statement on the night.

According to Reuters information, the manufacturers include Mercedes-Benz, Volvo (Sweden), BYD (China), Jaguar Land Rover, a unit of the Indian Tata Motors, as well as the US automakers Ford and General Motors.

As part of the global effort to reduce carbon emissions, they will therefore commit to ceasing production of fossil fuel-powered vehicles worldwide by 2040 and selling only zero-emission cars and vans in leading markets by 2035 at the latest.

VW, BMW and others are not on board

People familiar with the matter told Reuters that the world's two leading automakers, Volkswagen and Toyota, would not sign the pledge.

The world's fourth largest automobile manufacturer Stellantis is also missing, as are Honda and Nissan from Japan and Hyundai from Korea.

The German car maker BMW will not join the commitment either.

Auto industry circles have said that some manufacturers are suspicious of the paper because they commit to costly technology shifts, but lack a similar commitment from governments to ensure that the necessary charging and grid infrastructure is built to support electric vehicles .

GM said it was "proud to stand by other companies, governments and organizations and to commit to working towards a transition to 100 percent zero-emission vehicles."

Ford also confirmed its participation in the initiative: “To be successful, everyone has to work together.” Volvo had previously committed itself to fully converting to electric vehicles by 2030.

Germany probably not included

The 24 countries that want to join the initiative have so far lacked the important automotive markets of China, the USA and Germany.

The participating governments want to “work towards ensuring that all sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles are emission-free by 2040 worldwide and in leading markets by 2035 at the latest”.

The German Ministry of the Environment said that the federal government has not yet made a final decision.

The negotiators at the climate conference held discussions until late Tuesday evening.

The outgoing Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) had previously rejected the initiative.

Scheuer told journalists: “The fossil combustion engine will expire in 2035.

The combustion technology is still needed.

We want to make them climate-neutral with synthetic fuels and preserve the advantages of the technology. "

However, the planned declaration does not take into account propulsion with synthetic fuels.

That is why his ministry is decidedly against it.

The Ministry of Transport said that this was also the line of the federal government.