New campaign to increase electric vehicle sales

The Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) has announced a new campaign called EV 30@30 to speed up the deployment of electric vehicles and target at least 30 percent new electric vehicle sales by 2030.

The campaign will support the market for electric passenger cars, light commercial vans, buses and trucks (including battery-electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell vehicle types). It will also work towards the deployment of charging infrastructure to supply sufficient power to the vehicles deployed.

“We need to see a rapid, global shift towards electric cars and other vehicles,” said Erik Solheim, Executive Director, The United Nations Environment Programme. “This is not only so we can cut carbon emissions and reduce climate change, but also because urban air pollution is one of the world’s biggest killers and a major public health emergency. We want all countries to join this campaign and promote electric mobility. UN Environment is supporting close to fifty countries and cities around the world to make this positive change, and will support where we can in order to push policy change.”

The CEM Electric Vehicle Initiative (EVI) recognises the importance of reducing carbon emissions in the transport sector, which account for almost a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the fastest-growing energy end use sectors. It also emphasises the significance of working towards energy efficiency and the mitigation of air pollution from transport. These environmental, economic and social goals can be addressed through the accelerated electrification of the transport sector.

The new sales target will apply collectively to the CEM-EVI membership, and not to individual countries. Governments who endorse the goal can establish policies towards reaching the target and engaging through EVI to report progress and share best practices.

“Despite the progress so far, electric vehicles still have a long way to go before reaching a scale that would make a significant dent in global oil demand growth and greenhouse gas emissions,” said Fatih Birol, Executive Director, International Energy Agency. “But the Electric Vehicles Initiative’s latest campaign can provide a significant boost to this critical market.”

The global electric car stock reached more than 2 million vehicles in 2016, after crossing the million-car threshold in 2015, according to the latest Global EV Outlook report. Still, the scale achieved so far remains small. The global electric car stock currently accounts for just 0.2 percent of the total amount of passenger light duty vehicles in circulation.