Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, and other major automakers are on track to sell 400 million more diesel and petrol vehicles than is feasible to stave off the worst effects of climate change, Greenpeace Germany concludes in a new report.
Auto sales ‘overshoot’ will make it impossible to prevent the worst effects of climate change
Transportation currently makes up a quarter of fuel-related greenhouse gas emissions globally, with half of that coming from passenger cars. Many automakers have pledged to phase out the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles by the end of the decade in favor of electric vehicles. But the damage to the climate will already have been done by then, according to Greenpeace.
“Leading auto manufacturers, including Toyota, Volkswagen, and Hyundai, are transitioning far too slowly to zero-emission vehicles, which has dangerous consequences for our planet,” said Benjamin Stephan, climate campaigner at Greenpeace Germany, in a statement.
“Leading auto manufacturers, including Toyota, Volkswagen, and Hyundai, are transitioning far too slowly to zero-emission vehicles”
The group determined that in order to prevent global temperatures from rising above the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold, no more than 315 million new diesel and petrol vehicles can be sold worldwide. But current planning by the auto industry is misaligned with those goals, according to the report. If auto sales continue at the present rate, the industry is on track to sell 712 million diesel and petrol vehicles by 2040 — or an “overshoot” of 396 million cars.
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