COP26: Electric vehicle support for developing countries
The GEF Global Electric Mobility Programme is to be expanded to 27 countries with the addition of ten low and middle-income countries.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations programme, which was launched in 2019 with partners including the International Energy Agency, is intended to support developing countries shift to zero-emission electric mobility.
Initially, the focus was on 17 countries including Antigua & Barbuda, Armenia, Burundi, Chile, Costa Rica, India, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Madagascar, Maldives, Peru, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, St. Lucia, Togo, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
The new countries now joining the programme are Bangladesh, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, Albania, Grenada, Indonesia, Jordan, the Philippines, South Africa and Tunisia.
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“The shift to zero-emissions mobility will be one of the defining changes of the 21st century, as the introduction of the internal combustion engine was in the 2oth century,” GEF CEO and Chairperson Carlos Manuel Rodriguez said.
“This global partnership will be crucial in paving the way for low and middle-income countries to benefit from the shift to electric mobility, while cutting transport emissions, fighting climate change and creating a cleaner environment for their citizens.”
The programme is designed to help governments develop emobility roadmaps, business models and financing schemes to transition their transportation sectors to electric vehicles.
It also has created three regional platforms to support the transition to emobility in Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Transport-related emissions are expected to contribute one-third of energy-related climate emissions by 2050. According to the IPCC, all new vehicles worldwide need to be zero emissions by 2035 to meet the Paris climate targets.
The GEF Global Electric Mobility Programme complements the UNEP Global Electric Mobility Programme, which is supporting the introduction of zero-emission vehicles, including electric buses, cars and two- and three-wheelers.
