text: As the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) continues in Paris, 13 North American and European governments have announced they will strive to make all new passenger vehicles in their jurisdictions zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by no later than 2050. According to the governments, achieving this goal could reduce transportation sector climate impacts by more than 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year by 2050, lowering global vehicle emissions by about 40%.
  The governments, which are participants in the International ZEV Alliance, include Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the U.K. in Europe; California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont in the U.S.; and Quebec in Canada. The alliance was initially launched in August to accelerate global adoption of ZEVs, which include battery-electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell vehicles.
  The ZEV Alliance says its participants represent about half of the electric vehicle sales worldwide.
  “These governments are leading the way when it comes to early adoption of electric vehicles by offering a mix of ﬁnancial and non-ﬁnancial incentives, vehicle policy, consumer awareness and outreach, and the installation of a charging infrastructure,” says Nic Lutsey, program director of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), which serves as secretariat to the International ZEV Alliance.
  ICCT has also released a working paper, “Global Climate Change Mitigation Potential from a Transition to Electric Vehicles,” that the group says quantiﬁes the greenhouse gas beneﬁts of increasing ZEV adoption. More information on that is available here.
  To learn how some other announcements made at the COP21 conference might boost the alternative fuel vehicle industry, click here.