Nobel Prize Winner and former World Bank Chief Economist Paul Romer has said that it is better for government to "specify environment ends but not technological means" with respect to Europe's emphasis on using diesel engine to power passenger vehicles. This Vox article(Links to an external site.) describes how preferential tax treatment had favored diesel engine in Europe while the US did not.

The European Commission has told BMW, Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler, and Volkswagen Group that it believes they worked together to delay systems to reduce emissions from gasoline and diesel private passenger vehicles. The Commission has recently proposed multi-billion dollar fines. European Union regulators said they colluded to block the development and introduction of clean air technology.

The European Commission has told BMW, Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler and Volkswagen Group that it believes they worked together to delay systems to reduce emissions from petrol and diesel cars.

Romer shows that the level of air pollution level in the Boston-District of Columbia corridor is lower than in the Amsterdam-Paris region.

Now Germany is bidding to beat China at building batteries for electric vehicles(Links to an external site.), per Fortune. Please read the Vox and Fortune articles and comment on why there may be better economic incentives to achieve desired environmental outcomes if European governments focused on setting and enforcing environmental goals rather than the technological methods to achieve those goals.