German government plans to tax cars on emissions

By Erik Kirschbaum

BERLIN, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Germany's government plans to tax cars based on emissions instead of engine size to help tackle climate change, Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee said.

Tiefensee told a news conference late on Saturday that German and other European carmakers had to do more to protect the environment, after the head of the U.N. Environment Programme had chided Europe for complacency over climate change.

"The government will be ...