We are on our way to getting 400 million fossil cars, more than the climate can handle. Instead of continuing to lead the way in zero-emission cars, Norway is shutting down the engine. Now the battle should be to reduce emissions even further, not to have to defend what we have achieved so far.
If we want to reach the 1.5 degree goal, it is urgent to stop the production of new fossil fuel cars. This is confirmed in new reports from both Green peace And International Energy Agency.
Norway’s electric car policy has been a tremendous success. Ten years ago, electric cars accounted for just three percent of new car sales, now the figure is approaching eighty. While the Norwegian car fleet is small in the global picture, the investment has had a major impact on the auto industry’s choice to invest more in electric cars. Norway has taken the lead and now the rest of the world is following suit. Over the past three years, global sales of new electric cars have risen from 2.5% to almost 10%. The EU recently decided that all new car sales by 2035 must be fossil fuel free. This is fine, but it’s not enough.
7 new electric cars for less than 400,000: excellent value for money
Incentives for cuts along the entire value chain
Electric cars are already a climate solution, but we have to be honest in the debate. Electric cars today are not environmentally friendly enough. For example, a Polestar 2 emits 24.4 tonnes of CO2 for cars in production. This is about three times the annual per capita climate footprint in Norway.
In an automotive industry of the future, we must work to decarbonise the materials we build cars with and the way we build cars, we must track materials at risk, and we must become better at reusing and recycling materials. In combination with green charging, it can finally unlock the full potential of electric cars.
Common global measurement standard and reporting requirements
The benefits of the electric car have shown that politics can be used to accelerate change across an entire industry. Now the same kind of measures can be used to make the purchase of the most climate-friendly cars more profitable, both in production and on the road.
We need a radical collaboration in the sector. We need to ensure transparency on production-related emissions and common measurement standards for reporting CO2 footprints. The EU is already in the process of developing such standards and proposes that car manufacturers can voluntarily report against them by 2025. Norway should contribute here and work to ensure that reporting is not optional, but mandatory for all cars, at least those sold in Norway.
They are the two most popular electric cars in Norway – we asked owners what they think of their cars
To gain momentum, the public sector itself would need to take the lead in making demands on its car purchases. Firstly, to demand transparency on figures and measurement methods, and finally also low emissions from production.
This is not the time to turn off the engine of zero emission cars and sit back. A sustainable automotive policy must not only concern car fuel. Yes, we need to replace fossil-fuel cars with electric cars globally, but we also need to ensure that renewable energy supplies electricity both for manufacturing and as fuel for cars the day it leaves the factory. And then the total carbon footprint of the car must be zero. Only then can we talk about sustainable cars.
