Brussels may want to force European automakers to make big cuts to emissions on new vehicles, but the German state of Bavaria is resisting the proposals.

Politicians from the state that is home to automaker BMW say they are are going to oppose a European Commission proposal that would require vehicles built beginning in 2013 to emit a maximum of 120 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer of travel. Under the proposal carmakers whose fleets exceed the limits will face hefty fines.

Bavarian politicians are now lobbying 11 EU member states to oppose the proposal -- expected to be among climate change regulations the commission will unveil on Jan. 23. The commission's plan would take effect after current regulations expire in 2012.

In a letter urging EU member states to oppose the emissions requirement, Markus Söder, in charge of EU issues for Bavaria, wrote that the proposed sanctions against automakers are "hostile to innovation and not helpful to climate protection."

Söder is hoping to move a debate of the emissions policy to the European Commission's Competitiveness Council, where officials may be more disposed to favor the concerns of automakers over the merits of this particular environmental policy.

Söder's letter follows hot on the heels of complaints from the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), which represents major German automakers including BMW, Daimler and Volkswagon, that the emissions requirement would put an unfair burden on manufacturers of larger vehicles. The trade group has demanded "major changes" to the proposed policy.

"With the current proposal … neither the cause of environmental protection nor economic reason is being served," VDA President Matthias Wissmann said last December. "European environmental policy must not be set at the expense of a few manufacturers."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also spoke out against the proposed emissions requirement last month. "This is industrial policy at Germany's expense," said Merkel. "It is senseless to impose a penalty that bears no relation to the actual cost of carbon dioxide emissions."

Though not new, Merkel's opposition to the emissions requirement stands in sharp contrast to her recent push to combat climate change with bold policies in Germany and the EU. In December her cabinet unveiled a plan  to invest €3.3 billion ($4.9 billion) in the development of renewable energy sources and to institute policies that will aim to cut the nation's carbon dioxide emissions 40 percent by 2020.

But the German government wants to protect auto manufacturers, who represent one of the country's most important industries with over 740,000 employees, from regulations that could stifle competitiveness. Last month German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel of the left-leaning Social Democrats suggested that the emissions limit was an attempt by manufacturers of smaller automobiles to gain ground on German companies, which typically produce larger vehicles.

"This is just intended to wage a trade war against the German auto industry by the French and Italians," he said.

The potential emissions requirement is among proposed regulations that the European Commission is proposing to help the EU reach the so-called "20-20-20-10 agreement": to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels, create 20 percent of the bloc's energy from renewable sources and run 10 percent of cars and trucks on biofuels by 2020.