Amsterdam hosted the first Forum on the decarbonisation of the automotive industry

Automotive transport is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. According to a report by the European Environment Agency, transport was responsible for around a quarter of total CO2 emissions in the EU in 2019, of which 71.7% came from road transport. It was the greening of this sector that was the focus of the Forum held in Amsterdam.

The event was attended by 80 senior executives from 56 companies and 15 countries. The main focus was on the automotive industry, an important part of the transport services sector. It was about the electrification of cars and building infrastructure for electric transport, without which it is simply impossible to achieve decarbonisation of the industry.

According to an analysis by the consulting company McKinsey, automakers worldwide are expected to invest more than US$1 trillion in green transport by 2030. Beyond investment, however, there is a need for cross-cooperation between companies, sectors, governments and the public.

So, according to the speakers, the main challenges are as follows:

• there is a need to increase production capacity for electric vehicles, where the main difficulty is to attract qualified engineers for which other industries are also competing;

• the infrastructure for electric vehicle charging needs not only quantitative growth of stations, but also network expansion, taking into account the opinion of electric car owners and convenience for them;

• clean energy would be preferable for the production of electric vehicles and hence scaling up renewable energy capacity;

• openness to new technologies, innovative developments in electrification, and sharing of experiences can be the key to faster development and lower costs of electrification, but this remains to be worked on.

According to the Forum report, the transition to electric transport is not limited to cars. Electrification of medium- and even heavy-duty trucks is also gaining momentum. There is also huge potential in the aviation and shipping sectors, which produce vast amounts of emissions and, if decarbonised, could make a significant contribution towards carbon neutrality.

Moscow is also actively expanding its infrastructure for electric transport. Recently, more than 220 electric charging stations have been installed in the capital as part of the Energy of Moscow project, totalling over three thousand in the city. Electric car users can recharge their cars at the city's electric charging stations for free. In addition, electric car owners have been exempt from paying transport tax since 2020, and city parking has been free for them since 2013.

Unsplash / Erik Mclean / Drew Dau