German automotive giant Volkswagen — still reeling from an emissions fraud scandal that has earned it hefty penalties and a mammoth class action lawsuit — is gearing up for a major investment in Turkey, eager to continue profiting from technology that it can no longer easily use in the West. The investment plan, which is in the final stage of talks with the Turkish government, has already sparked controversy, including political objections over Ankara’s deteriorating democratic record.

As a first step, Volkswagen established a subsidiary in the western Turkish province of Manisa. The details of the prospective plant, including its production capacity, number of employees and export plans as well as the incentives that Ankara has offered will take a bit more time to clear up, but the fact that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government is eager to welcome a company mired in gross environmental breaches has already fueled misgivings.

The concerns are well founded. In developed countries in particular, the automotive industry is under growing pressure to transform itself in line with environmental concerns, and moving outdated technologies to emerging countries such as Turkey is attracting scrutiny.

The Paris climate accord, which entered into force in November 2016 and has been signed by 197 parties thus far, set a goal of keeping world temperatures “well below” two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times and limiting the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to naturally absorbable levels, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100. According to the International Energy Agency, the number of electric cars will need to reach 600 million by 2040 in order to attain the Paris goal.