Suzanne Potter
California News Service
SAN FRANCISCO – Six California cities plus Los Angeles County are moving forward with a nationwide plan to transition their fleets to zero-emission vehicles – an announcement made in conjunction with the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco.
The Climate Mayors’ group includes Berkeley, Chula Vista, Long Beach, San Diego, Santa Monica and LA. Lauren Faber O’Connor, chief sustainability officer with LA Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office, said the city is making all of its expertise available in a new one-stop-shop online portal at DriveEVfleets.org.
“That means the cars themselves, the charging infrastructure, and all of the information and technical and planning resources that one needs in order to map out that transition for any fleet,” O’Connor said.
The Climate Mayors are pledging to fight climate change and improve air quality – and in so doing, meet the targets set by the Paris Agreement, despite the decision by the Trump administration to withdraw from the treaty.
Helen Clarkson is CEO of the Climate Group, which is leading a larger, global effort to eliminate tailpipe pollution and transition to clean electric vehicles. She said so far, 26 countries, regions, major cities and businesses have committed to 100 percent zero emission vehicles. They represent a population of around 120 million people.
“And when you aggregate that, put it all together, you really get a strong market signal to the automotive companies to say that this is what your customers want and to ask them to start signaling when they’re going to start the endgame of the combustion engine,” Clarkson said.
Clarkson noted the initiative will lead to a large network of electric vehicle charging stations – which will encourage more consumers to start buying zero-emission cars and trucks.
