200+ Organisations to Speed Up Transition to Emission-Free Transportation
The Accelerating to Zero (A2Z) Coalition launched on Thursday as the next step toward getting more ambitious commitments to a transition to zero-emission vehicles in line with the Paris Agreement.
On Solutions Day at COP27, more than 200 stakeholders announced their commitment to a speedy transition to zero-emission transportation.
The A2Z Coalition brings together the world's premier organisations in zero-emission transportation, providing a platform for understanding, formulating, and executing ambitious zero-emission transportation policies and programmes, as well as showcasing leadership.
Since about 20% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, this sector needs to change if the goals of the Paris Agreement are to be met.
Over 200 organisations from government, industry and civil society are joining forces to expedite the transition to zero-emission transportation with the help of the A2Z Coalition.
The A2Z Coalition is a partnership of the UK government's COP26 Presidency, The Climate Change High-Level Champions, the International Council on Clean Transportation, Climate Group, and the Drive Electric Campaign, to achieve zero emission sales of all new cars and vans in leading markets by 2035 and globally by 2040.
Partners of the A2Z Coalition are also trying to speed up the development of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that don't put out any pollution.
The A2Z Coalition builds off the momentous foundation of the "Zero Emission Vehicles Declaration" (ZEV Declaration) generated at COP26 and hosted by the UK COP Presidency in collaboration with the High-Level UN Climate Champions and the Climate Group.
At COP27, more than 200 people from national and local governments, automakers, NGOs, businesses, and fleet owners signed pledges that all new cars and vans sold by 2035 in the world's biggest markets and by 2040 everywhere else would have zero emissions.
Since COP26, there has been a global growth of 95 per cent across the electric vehicles market, yet climate experts say the world must accelerate the transition, and the share of sales of electric vehicles will need to accelerate five times faster for passenger vehicles, 10 times faster for electric buses, and even more rapidly for freight.
The BloombergNEF ZEV Factbook, which came out on Thursday, sounds a note of caution because both automakers and governments have been slow to make new commitments to zero-emission vehicles in the last year.
National ZEV targets and internal combustion engine (ICE) phase-out targets now cover nearly 41 per cent of the global passenger vehicle market by 2035, similar to a year ago.
Automakers with 2035 ICE phase-out targets account for 23 per cent of the market, up slightly from 19 per cent a year ago.
Nigel Topping, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for the UK, COP26, said:
"Accelerating the transition to a sustainable and clean transport sector should be a top priority for governments and businesses. We're happy to start the A2Z Coalition as a platform that builds on the good momentum created by the ZEV Declaration to get more people to make commitments and help the people who signed the declaration.
"We want more non-state actors to step up next year and make and implement ambitious plans to transition to zero-emission vehicles, which will provide cleaner air, more jobs, faster economic growth, and help us meet our Paris Agreement goals."
Source: Business Standard
