The twenty-sixth edition of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), also had space for the electric SUV series, Extreme E to do its part to contribute to the fight against emissions reduction and global warming.
At a special event at the meeting, Extreme E along with Count Us In, an initiative building the world’s largest community of people and organizations to take practical action on climate change, expressed their support for high-level UN climate action referents Nigel Topping and Gonzalo Muñoz.
Both made an open call to world leaders, contained in a manifesto signed by more than 35 key players from politics, industry and civil society, to take comprehensive action to accelerate the transition to zero-emission road transport. The launch was also supported by the Drive Electric campaign, Route Zero and Bloomberg Green.
Leading Personalities
At the meeting, key figures in the transportation world highlighted the growing availability and affordability of clean, fossil fuel-free technologies. Attendees included Extreme E Founder Alejandro Agag; Nico Rosberg, founder of the Rosberg X Racing team and 2016 Formula One World Champion; Hallie Liao, Head of International Development Department, Shenzhen Bus Group; Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra Group; and transportation electrification advocate Monica Araya.
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Acknowledging progress to date, the Count Us In statement urges world leaders to step up their ambition by delivering robust policies to ensure that the transport sector’s transition trajectory is consistent with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C.
It also calls for support in the shift to 100% zero emission new vehicles in countries with the highest levels of road transport pollution by 2030 for buses, by 2035 for light motor vehicles and by 2040 at the latest for heavy-duty vehicles.
Alarming Figures
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), road transport currently accounts for 75 percent of global emissions associated with transport, contributing to climate change and more than eight million premature deaths each year due to air pollution.
For this reason, COP26 represents a further step towards achieving mitigation of these effects and Extreme E has taken a leading role. “I am delighted to support this charter and lead the way when it comes to electric mobility with our Extreme E and Formula E electric motorsport championships,” Agag said.
He revealed that the category has been working with Count Us In team since 2020 to encourage fans to take action on reducing their carbon footprint through the Extreme E Count Us In challenge, but this statement goes a step further by putting pressure on those at the highest level to implement action.
Written by I Jhonattan González
