US says world needs to shift to EVs 22 times faster

The sneaking sense that the shift the world needs to make towards electric-vehicle usage is not happening fast enough – along with many other changes – has been brought into sharp focus with the swearing in of the new US government, and the first words from the US Special Envoy on climate change, John Kerry.

So how much faster do we need to be switching to EVs? Not twice as fast, nor even 10 times as quickly. No, Kerry insists the world needs to get to an EV future 22 times faster than it is now.

Speaking remotely to a meeting of  the global business community in Italy called the B20, Kerry applauded President Joe Biden’s decision to immediately sign America back up to the Paris climate agreement, and delivered a backhander to the Trump administration for ever pulling them out of it.

Kerry said the US would now move forward with “humility and ambition”.

“We know with pain and some embarrassment that, for the last four years, the leader of our country chose to pull out of the agreement and, frankly, engage in reckless behaviour, with respect to the future of people all over the world,” Kerry said.

He added that time was short and that the world was moving far too slowly to avoid dangerous warming. 

To get to net zero emissions by the middle of the century, the world needed to phase out coal five times faster than in recent years. 

Renewable energy would need to be ramped up six times faster, and the transition to electric vehicles needed to take place 22 times faster than at present. Clearly, the move towards EVs needs to happen faster than anything else, while the power sources to charge them – particular issue in Australia – need to change because coal-fired power plants need to be shut down as well.

“I think we have to move from those dirty options much faster,” Kerry added.

“We need to all move together, because today very few are on a trajectory of the steep reductions needed to meet even current goals, let alone the targets we need to avert catastrophic damage.

“Some countries are funding coal-fired power plants around the world, some countries are planning to bring increased coal-fired power online. 

“So my plea to everybody is that we have to reach a much faster path of decarbonisation, it is doable.”