Germany joins the International Zero-Emission Vehicle Alliance

Germany is the thirteenth government to join the International Zero-Emission Vehicle Alliance, which aims at making all passenger vehicles emission-free by 2050. The group made the announcement Thursday at the UN global climate talks in Paris.

The governments now participating in the ZEV Alliance include the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway in Europe; California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont in the United States; and Québec in Canada.The participants’ markets represent about half of the electric vehicles sales worldwide. They aim at reducing transportation sector climate impacts by more than 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year by 2050, lowering global vehicle emissions by about 40 percent.

Nic Lutsey, Program Director of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) and serving Secretariat to the International ZEV Alliance, said on the announcement:

“These governments are leading the way when it comes to early adoption of electric vehicles by offering a mix of financial and non-financial incentives, vehicle policy, consumer awareness and outreach, and the installation of a charging infrastructure.”

Let’s hope that this is one of many more announcements coming out of the UN climate change conference about accelerating the transition to zero-emission transportation.