BERLIN—Germany has blocked a European Union agreement on capping
car carbon emissions because the deal could have cost jobs and
harmed its domestic auto industry, officials said Friday.  The
blunt admission that Europe's biggest economy put business
interests before environmental standards is at odds with
Germany's image as a champion of green issues. The country has
invested heavily in renewable energy and Chancellor Angela
Merkel has previously advocated a global agreement to curb
climate change, which scientists say is largely driven by carbon
emissions.  "At a time when we're spending days sitting here
talking about employment, we must pay attention not to weaken
our own industrial base despite the need to make progress on
environmental protection," Merkel said at a meeting in Brussels,
where EU leaders were discussing the continent's youth
unemployment crisis.  Environmental campaigners had lobbied to
limit emissions from passenger cars to an average of 95 grams of
CO2 per kilometer within seven years. B