The Role of Electromobility in Meeting the EU’s Long-Term Climate Objectives
It is clear that the transition to electrification and the promotion of electric vehicle uptake specifically, plays an important role in the reduction of emissions and air pollution. On a global scale, the advancement of electromobility can help countries achieve their overall climate change objectives, such as those agreed upon at COP21 and those envisioned in the European Commission’s Green Deal announced in December 2019, that states in order to achieve climate neutrality, a 90% reduction in transport emissions is needed by 2050.
In fact, it is expected that the transport sector will deliver a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the EU by 2050. Whereas it is predicted that reaching the COP21 goal of limiting temperature to 1.5°C, will require a complete decarbonisation of the transport sector by 2050. (Source: EAFO, 2017)
Moreover, EAFO studies show that with a transition to a 100% zero-emission vehicle car fleet by 2050 it is possible to achieve an additional reduction of 3.9 gigatonnes of cumulative CO2 emissions in 2050 compared to existing EU targets. As the European power industry has committed to near 100% carbon neutral electricity production in Europe by 2050, the net “Well to Wheel” GHG emissions reduction from transport can be expected to be even higher. (Source: EAFO, 2017)