Automakers on track to miss IPCC climate change goal

Electric vehicle brands Polestar and Rivian have released a study predicting the global automotive industry will only achieve a quarter of the IPCC’s climate change goal by 2050.

The International Panel on Climate Change is targeting a 1.5 degrees Celsius limit to global warming within the next 27 years. However, the two EV manufacturer’s say that the auto industry’s progress towards this goal is so slow that it will overshoot this temperature target by 75%.

Although climate change activists and automakers are pushing EVs as a tenable defense against rising temperatures, the study notes that battery-powered cars are not a magic-bullet solution to achieving the IPCC’s climate change goal. Instead, Rivian and Polestar argue that “…even if every car sold in the world tomorrow would be electric, we’re still on track to overshoot [the IPCC target].”

The two automakers suggest that automakers work together to make the climate change goal more attainable within the IPCC’s timeframe. The study recommended measures such as setting an industry-wide cutoff date for production of the internal combustion engine, more funding for EV production, improvements to global energy infrastructure and implementing more eco-friendly practices.

Rivian and Polestar are seeking to meet with industry leaders to discuss these recommendations and achieve the IPCC’s climate change goal. Although the car industry has been historically cold on the issue, consumer sentiments, especially in younger demographics, have seemed to finally push the needle towards global warming action. However, given that automakers have yet to present a united front on the matter, aside from disgruntled acquiescence on electrification, collaboration may be difficult to form, even if it is the best solution as Rivian and Polestar suggest.

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