It could have been a lot worse for the European car industry.

Wednesday’s European Commission mobility proposals are meant to nudge the sector toward cutting emissions in cars and vans up to 2030 and to shift to alternative fuels. But Brussels opted for a gentler approach toward the Continent’s most important industry.

The Commission draft law opted for an emissions cut of 30 percent by 2030, compared to 2021 standards, with a midway target of a 15 percent reduction by 2025 — which was a lot closer to the industry’s preferred target than the green lobby’s. Importantly, there will be no penalties for companies that fail to meet the midway clean car benchmark — a victory for carmakers who want to move at their own pace and fret about a demand to go green quick.

“A radical change in the market for alternatively-powered vehicles will of course not happen overnight,” said Erik Jonnaert, secretary-general of carmaker lobby ACEA. “This is why focusing on a 2030 target is the best way forward. Instead of setting an interim target in 2025, it should rather be seen as a milestone year to review the progress.”

Germany’s powerful auto industry mobilized in the final weeks of drafting to lobby for an easier ride for the sector, which wants to decide for itself how best to calibrate a switch from the internal combustion engine to alternative fuels like electric batteries and hydrogen.

Car companies pushed against increased penalties prior to 2030 and setting quotas for electric cars sales — an effort that succeeded.

The Commission pitched the proposal as a way to keep the automotive sector competitive against rivals further ahead in clean car technology. “They are the main players, you see the volume of cars produced,” said Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, referring to the automobile industry. “They are the ones most exposed to the competition of China, India and other producers of electric cars in the future.”

Others wanted an even stronger push to accelerate the deployment of electric cars, and help foster a continental industry for low emission vehicles and batteries.

A joint letter obtained by POLITICO from a clutch of EU transport and environment ministers without major car industries — such as Austria and the Netherlands — called for a 40 percent emission reduction target by 2030 and a quota for electric vehicles.

Green groups had argued for a 60 percent emissions cut by 2030, while car companies were hoping for only a 20 percent reduction.

Environmentalists were also underwhelmed by the Commission’s proposal to boost the sale of clean cars, like those powered by batteries and hydrogen. Instead of quotas enforced by fines, the Commission opted for positive enforcement, proposing to reward companies that sell more than the target level of green cars with carbon credits they can use to offset some of their CO2 targets.

The failure to set a clear enforceable target is likely to hold Europe back, said Greg Archer from the NGO Transport & Environment. “It amounts to handing the global leadership on electric cars to China, which will be delighted to export their models to Europe, jeopardizing jobs in Europe’s auto industry.”

Talks among Commissioners over the final calibration of the targets were divisive, according to an EU official briefed on the college meeting held Wednesday, but ultimately they favored a softer approach that spared the powerful car industry some pain.

Transport accounts for around a quarter of the bloc’s greenhouse gas emissions and the EU wants to slash its overall output by at least 40 percent up to 2030, which makes a cut in automotive emissions crucial.

This article has been updated to clarify that the lack of midpoint penalties applies to the clean car benchmark.