Carlton Reid Nov 10, 2021
“It’s crazy cycling isn’t on the main agenda here at COP26,” mused Chris Boardman, Greater Manchester’s transport commissioner.
Instead, today’s main agenda item on the COP26 Transport Day focussed primarily on electric vehicles. Cycling, walking, trains, and buses were all excluded from the high-level discussions.
Twenty-four countries—and some of the world’s leading automotive companies—have signed a pledge at COP26 to phase out gasoline and diesel-powered motor vehicles by 2040 and replace them with electric cars and trucks. Sign-ups to the promise include Canada, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. The U.K.—which had already pledged to phase out new gasoline and diesel vehicles by the more ambitious target of 2030—also signed the agreement.
A draft text at the climate summit urged countries on November 10 to boost their emissions cutting goals by 2022, three years ahead of schedule, after data showed the world was far off track to limit warming to 1.5°C.
“People switching from normal cars to electric cars isn’t progress,” said Boardman, who was in Glasgow to glad-hand leaders such as the U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
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