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Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche recently addressed a German Green Party convention and, to tell the truth, his team was nervous. Might the party’s environmentalists boo him off the stage or hurl bags of paint?

In fact, the day was pretty harmonious. The executive and the once-hostile political party both agreed the car industry needs to develop vehicles that emit absolutely no carbon dioxide (CO2).

That is the future. But the past may be darker and dirtier. Like Volkswagen, there are questions over whether Daimler may have manipulated its own emissions figures. Unlike VW, it didn’t necessarily break the law.

Research by business weekly WirtschaftsWoche, a sister publication of Handelsblatt, suggests the Mercedes-maker may have cheated in its handling of nitrogen oxide emissions in a bid to keep emissions of a separate pollutant – carbon dioxide – lower. Daimler has long said it did not engage in illegal manipulation.