Promoting the shift to zero emission vehicles across the globe
The global Light Duty Vehicle (LDV) fleet, including passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (e.g. pick-ups and delivery vans), is growing rapidly, from about one billion vehicles today to more than two and a half billion vehicles by 2050. The majority of this growth will be taking place in developing markets. The growing vehicle fleet will lead to an almost three-fold increase of energy use and CO2 emissions globally.
A major global clean transport disruption is needed to shift to a cleaner and low-to-no emissions trajectory to achieve global targets, particularly the Paris Climate Agreement and agreements on air quality (e.g. UN Environment Assembly 1/7 resolution on air quality). Electric vehicles are a necessary step in decarbonizing the transport sector. According to the International Energy Agency, limiting the global temperature increase to below 2°C will require at least 20 per cent of all road transport vehicles to be electrically driven by 2030 (approximately 300 million vehicles).
Scenario calculations using the eMob Calculator of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) show that while the LDV stock will more than double between now and 2050, global light duty vehicle energy use could be stabilized to today’s levels and global light duty vehicle CO2 emissions could be decreased below year 2000 values. By achieving a 60 per cent share of battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road, more than 60 billion tons of CO2 could be saved between now and 2050.
Electric mobility and the Global Fuel Economy Initiative
As part of the Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI), UNEP is currently supporting fifty country projects that have developed or are developing fiscal and non-fiscal national policies and programmes to encourage energy efficiency of light duty vehicles. The active promotion of electric cars, as well as their adequate representation within efficient vehicle policies packages is part of the GFEI.
Establishing a fuel economy baseline is most often the first step towards the development of an electric mobility strategy. It provides information about the efficiency of the national new vehicle fleet and is essential for any targeted policy development to reduce road transport energy use. Read more about the GFEI.
The Global Electric Mobility Programme is supporting 25 countries with the introduction of electric LDVs and charging infrastructure and is currently active in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Tunisia (with UNIDO), Zambia, India, Sri Lanka, Albania (with UNIDO), Ukraine, Armenia, Argentina, Belize, Colombia, Chile, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica (with UNDP), Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, St. Lucia and Uruguay.
The work in the countries will be supported by the Global Thematic Working Groups on Electric LDVs and on Charging Infrastructure, Batteries and Grid Integration hosted by the International Energy Agency (IEA) as well as the trainings and events carried out as part of the Regional Support and Investment Platforms.
The Global Working Groups on Electric LDVs and on Charging Infrastructure, Batteries and Grid Integration will:
- Support the development of global and regional targets for the shift to electric mobility
- Provide policy advice and facilitate discussions to bring forward the global harmonization of e-mobility standards and regulations
- Develop tools to support e-mobility projects worldwide
The Regional Support and Investment Platforms will:
- Create communities of practice to share lessons and best practices
- Establish marketplaces to mobilize financing and bring together countries, cities, and e-mobility suppliers and financiers
- Provide technical support and training to countries and cities
- Provide a helpdesk for the countries and cities keen to introduce electric mobility
UNEP is setting up an industry partnership bringing together all relevant stakeholders such as car manufacturers, electric vehicle supply equipment companies as well as utilities to facilitate the deployment of charging infrastructure in low and middle-income countries.
eMob Calculator
UNEP developed the eMob Calculator, which is a free tool to assess the potential of electric LDV to reduce energy use, CO2 and air pollutant emissions and costs until the year 2050. The tool can be used to perform cost-benefit analysis on a national as well as city level on the large-scale deployment of electric light duty vehicles, taking into account the need for public charging infrastructure.
