APEC Bulletin 13 September 2022
Why APEC Should Transition to Electric Cars Sooner Rather than Later
APEC Secretariat
And four recommendations for how to do away with internal combustion engine vehicles, from a policy perspective
Climate change is a global existential threat. Right now, its effects are especially felt in the Asia-Pacific region, where thousands of vulnerable communities are exposed to the extreme weather events and climate catastrophes caused by centuries of industry-emitted greenhouse gasses (GHGs) that trap heat within the atmosphere. Nowadays, APEC economies pump out GHGs at disproportionately higher rates than their share of global economic output or population.
In 2021 APEC Leaders committed to “integrate action on climate change across relevant APEC workstreams.” One of the most relevant workstreams within the APEC forum is transportation, an industry still in large part dependent on GHG-producing fossil fuels, and accounts for about a quarter of emissions worldwide.
The most effective and economically efficient strategy to dramatically reduce GHG emissions from transportation is promoting the widespread use of electric vehicles (EV). This would mean transitioning motorcycles, tricycles, cars, trucks and buses from being reliant on internal combustion engines, which use oil, to primarily relying on electric batteries.
EVs have lower energy consumption per kilometer and lower carbon emissions compared to internal combustion engine vehicles. Full-battery EVs, particularly, emit no tailpipe air pollutants.
