Zenith backs COP26 global declaration to speed up electric vehicle adoption

Zenith has signed up to the EV100 global declaration to accelerate the transition to 100% zero-emission cars and vans, announced on Transport Day at COP26.

EV100, a group of businesses from more than 80 countries, has pledged to increase demand, influence policy, and drive mass roll-out to make electric vehicles more rapidly affordable for everyone.

The group has worked closely with the UK government and the UN High-Level Climate Champions on the declaration, which states, “as business fleet owners and operators, or shared mobility platforms, we will work towards 100% of our car and van fleets being zero-emission vehicles by 2030 or earlier.”

COP26 is working to build consensus on the pace of transition to zero-emission vehicles that are needed to meet the Paris Agreement’s goals and strengthen international collaboration to speed progress. It has created the Zero Emission Vehicle Transition Council to bring together governments representing over half the global car market.

Commenting on the announcement, Tim Buchan, chief executive officer, said: “The transition to net zero underpins everything we do. We are working closely with customers and partners to accelerate change. The EV100 declaration at COP26 is a milestone for our industry and one that we are proud to be a part of.”

We have already made significant progress on the road to net zero, with 42% of its own fleet now fully electric. The transition of customer fleets continues to accelerate, with battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounting for 17% of the car fleet.

Salary sacrifice leads the change, with 79% of current orders being for a BEV, while the customer LCV order book is now 37% BEV.

Zenith is also the only UK fleet company to have committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a partnership between CDP, a not-for-profit charity that runs the global environmental disclosure and reporting system, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Science-based targets show companies how much and how quickly they need to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to prevent the worst effects of climate change.

Zenith has committed to set a robust emissions reduction target at the pace and scale required by climate science to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. It has also joined the Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign - the world’s largest and fastest-growing group of companies that are aligning with 1.5°C to help halve global emissions by 2030. By joining Business Ambition, Zenith has also become part of Race to Zero, the UN-backed campaign.

Zenith recently received carbon neutral status and international recognition with certification from international environmental consultancy Carbon Footprint. After calculating its carbon footprint for the first time in December 2020, the company has offset its carbon emissions for FY21 using globally recognised and verified carbon credits.