2035 ban on oil-burning cars too late for 1.5°C climate target
Greenpeace European UnitJun 04, 2022
The European Parliament (EP) on Tuesday approved a law that would effectively ban the sale of new gas- and diesel-powered vehicles in the EU starting in 2035. Specifically, it will require a 55% cut in CO2 emissions for new cars by 2030 — compared to 2021 levels — and 100% by 2035.
The formal approval comes after EU member states agreed on an outline of the bill last year, which includes a compromise that could allow the sale of vehicles running on carbon-neutral fuel. These would be the only new carbon-producing vehicles allowed after 2035.
While any fossil fuel ban enshrined into law is better than no law at all, the 2035 rule is too late if Europe wants to abide by the Paris agreement and actually halt climate change. In order to do so, all cars should be electric by 2028. This would not only help prevent the Earth from warming more than 1.5°C but also save Europeans hundreds of millions of euros in fuel costs.
The EU's zero-emissions vehicle push isn't just likely to lead to job cuts; it definitely will. Car manufacturers are already planning on cutting jobs across the continent to meet EV goals, with Ford recently announcing plans to eliminate 3.8k positions in Europe. Moreover, these are skilled engineering jobs, but company executives say that as they switch from combustion engines to EV production, these skills will become obsolete.
There's a 50% chance that at least 34.4% of new vehicle production will be electric in the US in 2027, according to the Metaculus prediction community.