In the Saxon capital of Dresden on Monday, Germany's environmental good intentions collided with the economic priorities of the powerful car lobby.
Transport minister Wolfgang Tiefensee was in town to open the Third Annual Conference on Environmentally Friendly Vehicles, part of the climate agenda of Germany's G8 presidency.
"German car manufacturers are world leaders in environmental technology," he said, a remarkable claim considering a survey out this week showed that German cars pollute the environment more than other car brands.
The study by Transport and Environment, a green transport lobby group, showed that German cars actually increased their average carbon dioxide emissions by 0.6 per cent from 2005 to 2006.
Daimler was the worst performer in the survey: in 2006 its fleet recorded a 2.5 per cent increase in CO2 emissions compared to the previous year, largely because of an average vehicle weight increase of 4.5 kg.
Volkswagen's fleet increased emissions by 0.9 per cent and BMW, though it recorded a 2.5 per cent emissions drop, still landed in second-last place.
The survey found that no German-made car emitted less than the European average CO2 emission of 162g/km in 2006.
PSA Peugeot Citroën of France produces the cars with the lowest emissions in Europe, followed by Fiat and Renault.
"It's ironic that the country that did so much to get a European consensus on new climate targets earlier this year is also home to the carmakers that are holding back progress on one of the most important ways of achieving them," said T&E director Jos Dings.
Germany's carmakers have perhaps the most influential lobby in the country. Matthias Wissman, head of the Association of German Car Makers, is a former Christian Democrat (CDU) transport minister with has the ear of Chancellor Merkel.
"The auto industry wants to make its contribution (to climate change)," said Wissman in Dresden. "But we won't reach our ambitious climate targets just with stringent limits of motor CO2 emissions."
It was after lobby pressure that Berlin demanded earlier this year that the EU water down proposals to reduce car CO2 emissions by 25 per cent by 2012.
With little political pressure, analysts say it is unlikely that German car markers will go green anytime soon.
"The lobby perpetuates the myth that Germany leads the world in auto engine technology," says Cerstin Gammelin, author of The String-Pullers, a study of the influence of lobbyists in German politics. "It is not interested in environmental features, like a soot filter on diesel engines, that would explode the myth and drive up costs."