6 Automakers and 30 Countries Say They’ll Phase Out Gasoline Car Sales

by Brad Plumer and Hiroko Tabuchi (Wall Street Journal) Ford, G.M. and Mercedes agreed to work toward selling only zero-emissions vehicles by 2040. But Toyota, Volkswagen and Nissan-Renault did not join the pledge.

At least six major automakers — including Ford, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors and Volvo — and 30 national governments pledged on Wednesday to work toward phasing out sales of new gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles by 2040 worldwide, and by 2035 in “leading markets.”

But some of the world’s biggest car manufacturers, including Toyota, Volkswagen, and the Nissan-Renault alliance did not join the pledge, which is not legally binding. And the governments of the United States, China and Japan, three of the largest car markets, also abstained.

The announcement, made during international climate talks here, was hailed by climate advocates as yet another sign that the days of the internal combustion engine could soon be numbered. Electric vehicles continue to set new global sales records each year and major car companies have recently begun investing tens of billions of dollars to retool their factories and churn out new battery-powered cars and light trucks.

The automakers that signed the pledge accounted for roughly one-quarter of global sales in 2019.

The 30 countries that joined the coalition included Britain, Canada, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Sweden. Earlier counts, based on news releases from conference organizers, had placed the number of national governments at 29 and 31.

Other countries vowing for the first time to sell only zero-emissions vehicles by a set date included Turkey, Croatia, Ghana and Rwanda.

The agreement states that automakers will “work toward reaching 100 percent zero-emission new car and van sales in leading markets by 2035 or earlier, supported by a business strategy that is in line with achieving this ambition, as we help build customer demand.”

Zero-emissions vehicles could include either plug-in electric vehicles or hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, although the latter have struggled to gain market share. Electric cars can still indirectly produce emissions if, for instance, they are recharged with power from plants that burn coal or natural gas. But they are generally considered cleaner overall than combustion engine vehicles and do not create pollution from their tailpipes.

The other two automakers that signed the pledge were BYD, a Chinese automaker that has made major inroads selling electric cars in Europe, as well as Jaguar Land Rover.

Nicolai Laude, a Volkswagen spokesman, said while the German automaker was committed to a rapid shift toward electric vehicles, it did not join the new pledge because the global nature of its business meant it had to be mindful that “regions developing at different speed combined with different local prerequisites need different pathways” to zero emissions. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: NEW PACTS: A new pact is slated to be released today at COP26 that would commit to ending the sale of internal combustion engines in cars by 2040. The transportation sector is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions globally, and the number one source of emissions in the United States. Specifically, the pact commits national governments to “work towards all sales of new cars and vans being zero-emission by 2040 or earlier, or by no later than 2035 in leading markets” and companies to end the sale of fossil fuel cars by 2035 at the latest. POLITICO Europe’s Karl Mathiesen and Joshua Posaner have more from Glasgow.

A far more aggressive — almost taboo — agreement on the docket for today or tomorrow, would unveil a major goal among climate negotiators: killing the fossil fuel industry altogether. While emissions reductions take center stage in climate talks, world leaders are far more hesitant to advocate the outright shutdown of oil and gas taps. But that’s exactly what Costa Rica’s Environment Minister Andrea Meza and a handful of other ministers are hoping for with the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance. Fossil fuels are responsible for 91 percent of human CO2 emissions in 2020, but aren’t even mentioned in the 2015 Paris Climate agreement, Karl reports. READ MORE

Excerpt from Reuters: By 2030, at least half of Toyota's model mix will be zero emission, including electric vehicles (EV) and hydrogen fuel cell cars, Toyota said in a press release on Thursday.

Unlike some auto companies, however, it has not committed to abandoning gasoline cars altogether, arguing that some regions are not yet ready for a switch to EVs or other alternative propulsion technologies. READ MORE