light of the criminal charges brought against german carmakers for manipulating emissions software. germany's car industry has long been synonymous with quality but the reputations of flagship companies like volkswagen became tarnished in the wake of the diesel gate scandal on global wide scale emissions trading has contributed to high pollution levels in urban areas german courts have started to impose bans on diesel cars in city centers. the transport sector accounts for some twenty percent of the country's carbon emissions a figure that is still rising as one of germany's largest employers the car industry has long enjoyed a great deal of leeway chancellor angela merkel has also been reluctant to acquiesce to e.u. wide emissions targets and expensive retrofitting of manipulated vehicles. domestic automakers have also dropped the ball on investment in green vehicles of a total of forty six million vehicles on germany's roads just fifty four thousand