On 11 December 2019, the European Commission unveiled the EU strategy on climate neutral Europe, or the European Green Deal. The strategy promises to ensure that there are no net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, including increasing the EU’s 2030 GHG reduction target to at least 50%, and towards 55% in a responsible way. This clear shift towards sustainable and zero emissions technologies and economy-wide change is urgently needed if the EU is to meet the ambition of the Paris Agreement. Electro-mobility is already ubiquitous in our lives, from road vehicles to rail, as it is key to clean cities, affordable mobility of all Europeans and our industrial competitiveness.

In March 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic swept across Europe and confined Europeans to their homes, halting business activity and closing factories for months. As Europe slowly goes back to life, the deepest economic recession since the 1930s heralds a new normal. But the relevance of the Green Deal or the urgency of climate action have not disappeared – the twin challenges of economic and climate crises must be tackled together. Electrification is the strong basis to relaunch the economy and create futureproof jobs fast.

The Green Deal should be the basis of the economic recovery, starting with today. This policy paper outlines the Green Deal vision and green recovery recommendations of the European
Platform for Electro-mobility, representing almost 40 companies, associations and civil society across the electro-mobility ecosystem.

Notably:

  • Electromobility remains the best solution to achieve the climate and industrial ambition of the European Green Deal for transport. This ecosystem is crucial to Europe’s economic
    relaunch in the aftermath of COVID-19 and will create over 1 million jobs in vehicle and rail manufacturing, charging infrastructure deployment and supply chains such as batteries by
    2030.
  • The EU Recovery Package must support the e-mobility ecosystem, including the continued demand for zero emission vehicles, green investments into e-mobility supply chains and
    stimulus to accelerate the roll-out of charging infrastructure across Europe, notably workplace & residential schemes.
  • The Commission should not delay the enabling policies key to e-mobility’s success, including the urgently needed review of the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure law, the Sustainable Battery
    package and the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive.