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The US makes an ambitious commitment to tackle transport emissions

22 November 2022, 14:47 UTC 2 min read

At COP27, the US announced it’s joining an ambitious agreement to address climate emissions from transport—the Global Memorandum of Understanding on Zero-Emission Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles (Global MoU). Co-led by CALSTART’s Drive to Zero program and the Netherlands, the MoU commits countries to 100% new zero-emission medium and heavy-duty vehicle (MHDVs) sales by 2040 at the latest, with an interim goal of at least 30% new sales by 2030.

The announcement from the US, alongside Ukraine, Ireland, Belgium, Croatia, Aruba, Dominican Republic, Liechtenstein, Lithuania and Curacao, sends a strong message to the international community - that leading countries are working together to accelerate the ZEV transition, globally.

Transport emissions are the largest and fastest growing source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally, and MHDVs are responsible for huge portion of these emissions, which has a damaging impact on urban air quality and human health.

Signatories, which include EV100 members Ibedrola and Siemens and other businesses, sub-national governments and other organizations, pledge to overcome the strategic, political and technical barriers to accelerate ZEV production and deployment. And as one of the world’s most influential economies, the US’ support will be a vital part of the collective efforts to accelerate the transition to zero emission vehicles, and to enable a cost-effective transition for emerging markets, and lower income countries.

With the launch of Climate Group's EV100+ campaign, which brings together businesses from around the world to tackle the heaviest and most polluting vehicles, we hope to see further ambition and cooperation between governments and businesses to accelerate the decarbonization of heavy-duty road transport.