The new report comes from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), and it was commissioned by the environmental campaign group Greenpeace. As well as calling for an end to all petrol and diesel car sales, the analysis recommends that forecourt plug-in hybrids must be take off the roads by 2035.
The German Aerospace Center is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of the Federal Republic of Germany, it also acts as the German space agency. The government-backed body undertakes research which includes a focus on technologies that can protect the environment, as well as developing environmentally compatible technologies, and at promoting innovations in areas like mobility, communication and security.
The new report is called “Development of the car fleet in EU28+2 to achieve the Paris Agreement target to limit global warming to 1.5°C“, and it looks at the passenger car market and stocks in the 28 members of the European Union plus Switzerland and Norway.
To meet the Paris Treaty and the goal to keep the mean global temperature increase to 1.5°C with a likelihood of 50 percent and of 66 percent, drastic changes are required for car use, according to the analysis. This means eliminating the use of petrol and diesel cars within the next twelve years. As well as halting sales, diesel and petrol powered-cars would be banished from the roads by the mid-2040s.
The consequence is to fill car sale gasp with battery electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles, or alternatives like synthetic fuels. This should be matched with a strategy to help drive behavioral changes towards people walking, cycling and public transport.
Discussing the report with The Guardian, one of the authors, Professor Horst Friedrich, adds: “Auto carbon dioixde-emissions need to peak as soon as possible. Looking at the dwindling carbon budget it is crucial to push low-emitting cars into the market, the earlier the better, to renew the fleet.”
