Environmental campaign group, Greenpeace’s Auto Environmental Guide 2022 has reportedly found that global sales of electric, or zero-emission, vehicles have grown more than twice for the first time in five years. However, the guide also found that automotive giants were not transforming fast enough to keep the average global temperature rise to 1.5 °C.

According to the report, zero-emissions vehicles only made up 5% of total global automotive sales last year, in comparison to the 2% the year before that.

The report also ranks the 10 biggest carmakers on their decarbonization efforts, where Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and General Motors were found to have performed comparatively better, while Stellantis, Hyundai-Kia, Ford, and Renault had an average performance.

Meanwhile, Toyota, Nissan, and Honda had the lowest rankings.

Although the global stock of EVs surpassed 10 million, 99% of global vehicles still utilize fossil fuels, with transport accounting for around a fifth of total carbon dioxide emissions.

Last year, all global major auto makers sold more zero-emissions vehicles (ZEV), while some relied heavily on the Chinese market. Honda and General Motors sold the majority of their EVs in China, 86% and 93% respectively, in the first half of this year.

Although Australian sales have not been included in the report, figures show that 20,700 EVs were sold last year, in comparison to 6900 sold the previous year. Almost 2% of Australia’s new car market is now made up of EVs. 

Toyota has been ranked the worst on decarbonization, with Greenpeace saying that firm fell behind other major carmakers in the adoption of electric vehicles and climate policy.

It forecasts that the Japanese carmaker’s worldwide production of battery EVs will be only 14% by 2029, while others are projected for much more, such as Volkswagen and Ford reaching 43% and 36% respectively.

Greenpeace also noted that active lobbying of carmakers against zero-emissions vehicles is still going on.

The organization added that Toyota also has an international track record of petitioning against vehicle pollution standards and has actively worked slowly towards accepting electric vehicles.

A Toyota spokesperson responded that Toyota Australia has sold 290,000 hybrid models since 2001, and made a significant contribution to lowering the country’s vehicle tailpipe emissions

Source credit: https://www.smh.com.au/environment/sustainability/d-oh-what-a-feeling-greenpeace-pans-toyota-in-global-ranking-20220907-p5bg0d.html