Taking the road without pollution is not for tomorrow. While the transport sector is one of the main emitters of greenhouse gases, hope has rested for several years on electric cars, which do not pollute while driving. Except that the rise of thermal SUVs sold by Hyundai-Kia, Volkswagen and Toyota completely cancels out the gains made by vehicles from these same brands, according to a Greenpeace report published the day before the opening of COP28.
“The world’s largest automobile manufacturers are throwing themselves headlong into the manufacture of SUVs, pushing the planet even further towards climate catastrophe,” alarms Erin Choi of Greenpeace Asia, quoted in a press release from the NGO. All of these SUVs emitted more than 900 million tonnes of CO2 on the road in 2021: if this automobile fleet formed a country, it would have ranked sixth among the most polluting countries in the world that year. The number of these SUVs, as imposing as they are polluting, in circulation around the world has increased from less than 50 million copies in 2010 to 330 million in 2022, “i.e. 1.3 times the total number of vehicles registered in the Union European”, according to the report.
Electric SUVs, a false solution
CO2 emissions from the use of SUVs from South Korea’s Hyundai-Kia, Germany’s Volkswagen and Japan’s Toyota (excluding emissions linked to the manufacturing of these vehicles) totaled 298 million tonnes in 2022, according to the Greenpeace calculations. At the same time, CO2 emissions avoided by the use of electric vehicles from these same manufacturers last year totaled only 9 million tonnes, according to this report.
This study was not based on the CO2 emissions generated over the entire life cycle of a vehicle, which also includes its production phase in particular. But emissions on the road are responsible for “70 to 80%” of the total and in most cases an electric vehicle also generates fewer emissions than a thermal vehicle over the entire life cycle, Greenpeace argued. of the AFP.
“It’s time for the auto industry to stop greenwashing,” said Erin Choi. “Hyundai, Volkswagen and other manufacturers must reduce the size of their SUV fleets at the same time as they electrify” their sales. And consensus is not possible to achieve the climate objectives of COP28. Thus, Greenpeace warns of the growing trend of electric SUVs, because these models have a higher carbon footprint than other electric cars, in particular because their manufacture requires more steel.