Latin America discovering electric mobility
BUENOS AIRES: With 80 per cent of the population living in urban areas and a vehicle fleet that is growing at the fastest rate in the world, Latin America has the conditions to begin the transition to electric mobility – but public policies are not, at least for now, up to the task.
That is the assessment of UN Environment, according to a conference that two of its officials gave in Argentina’s lower house of Congress, in Buenos Aires.
The shift towards electric mobility, however, will come inexorably in a few years, and in Latin America it will begin with public passenger transport, said the United Nations agency’s regional climate change coordinator, Gustavo Máñez, who used two photographs of New York’s Fifth Avenue to illustrate his prediction.
The fi rst photo, from 1900, showed horse- drawn carriages. The second was taken only 13 years later and only cars were visible.
Said Máñez: “As at other times in history, this time the transition will happen very quickly.
“I am seeing all over the world that car manufacturers are looking to join this wave of electric mobility because they know that, if not, they are going to be left out of the market.”
Projections indicate that Latin America could, over the next 25 years, see its car fleet triple, to more than 200 million vehicles by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency ( IEA).
This growth, if the transition to sustainable mobility does not pick up speed, will seriously jeopardise compliance with the intended nationally determined contributions adopted under the global Paris Agreement on climate change, according to Máñez.
The reason is that the transport sector is responsible for nearly 20 percent of the region’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
In this regard, the official praised the new president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, who called for the elimination of fossil fuel use and for the decarbonisation of the economy. Máñez also highlighted that “Chile, Colombia and Mexico are working to tax transport for its carbon emissions.
“This is an example of public policies aimed at generating demand for electric vehicles,” said Máñez, while another positive case is that of Uruguay stimulating the transition to a greener future with tax benefits. — IPS