George Eads talks through the findings of his report

David Ward makes a GFEI presentation to Robert E Skinner

The Global Fuel Economy Initiative’s targets to improve average fuel economy by 50% for new cars by 2030 and for the entire global light duty vehicle fleet by the same amount by 2050 is achievable using existing cost effective technologies, a new report commissioned by the Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI) has confirmed.

The report by George C. Eads, Charles River Associates, was presented at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in Washington DC on 25 January 2011. It was commissioned in order to provide an independent assessment of the 50 by 50 targets.  Titled ‘50 by 50’, Prospects and Progress, it examined two key questions. Firstly, is the 50by50 challenge a realistic one? Secondly, are we on target to achieve it? The report confirmed that:

• New car fuel consumption can be cut by 50% by 2030 (a doubling of mpg) compared to 2005 levels. This will be possible at least for OECD countries and possibly worldwide.
• In many OECD countries, by 2030 average new car fuel economy could be improved to close to 4l/100 km (60mpg).
• In terms of carbon emissions, this also corresponds to reducing CO2 emissions from gasoline vehicles from 186 gCO2/km on average to 93 gCO2/km.
• This 4l/100 km (60mpg) 2030 target should also be feasible for new car markets such as China and India.

The GFEI, which is a partnership of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), International Energy Agency (IEA), International Transport Forum (ITF) and FIA Foundation, is seeking to improve global fuel economy in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions from cars.

David Ward, FIA Foundation Director General  said: “It is clear that the 50% global fuel economy target is achievable on a worldwide basis. But to achieve it we need global action now so that we can see significant cuts in fuel consumption for new cars during this decade and the next.”

Robert E Skinner, Jr, TRB Executive Director was on the panel at the report launch. He said:  “Greatly improving average fuel economy will be absolutely critical to curtailing transportation’s contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.  The Global Fuel Economy Initiative is helping to show the way forward and doing so on a global basis.” 

Worldwide, the car fleet is set to triple by 2050, with serious implications for the global effort to address climate change unless reducing transport emissions and improving fuel economy become an urgent global priority, warns the GFEI.

The report challenges everyone with an interest in this issue to take the appropriate action to achieve this objective:

• Governments must create the conditions for industry to deliver the maximum from technological innovation, whilst fiscal instruments need to be coherent and consistent with targets;
• Countries which have not done so should launch national fuel economy initiatives, whilst around the world binding fuel economy targets must be set; 
• Manufacturers must set fuel economy as a top priority, and be ambitious in negotiating long term fuel economy targets with government.

According to the report, of key importance is creating a regulatory and fiscal environment that steers manufacturers towards using technology to improve fuel economy rather than enhanced performance and heavier vehicles. It must also steer consumer demand towards more energy efficient vehicles. Countries must start developing national fuel economy initiatives right now and the GFEI is working with regions and countries around the world to move forward in this respect.

The GFEI is supporting countries worldwide to develop the frameworks and policies required to significantly improve automotive fuel economy. The GFEI is also raising awareness and capacity of all stakeholders, including lawmakers and the general public, on the issue of fuel economy. This will be done by supporting national policy development, labelling programs, public information campaigns and continued use of workshops and conferences to share information and the results of recent research.

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