Ukraine adds its name to The Global Memorandum of Understanding announced during COP27. The Global Memorandum was also signed by the USA, Belgium, Ireland, Aruba, Croatia, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Liechtenstein and Lithuania.
The signatory countries formally support a pathway to 100% zero-emission sales of new medium and heavy-duty vehicles (or MHDVs) by 2040, to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050. The interim target of the memorandum is to reach 30% of new zero-emission truck sales by 2030.
Ukraine is one of the largest markets for trucks in Europe. The timing of Ukraine’s signing demonstrates both short-and long-term commitment to the transition to clean transport, given the realities of its ongoing war. Oleksandr Kubrakov, the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, said “Ukraine is going through difficult times: we are defending ourselves from Russian military aggression and fighting for the lives of our people. But we are confident in our victory. And we understand its importance for the entire civilized world. That is why we are ready to sign agreements related to the future. Both with Ukraine’s future and the whole world’s future. Our country fully understands and supports important decisions to preserve the planet’s ecology”.
Ukraine’s joining the Global Memorandum of Understanding was initiated by the electric vehicle association AVERE Ukraine. Many see this effort as the way to rebuild Ukraine by replacing legacy practices and processes with those that are carbon neutral. “Now our country has perhaps the strongest motivation in the world to never again depend on imported fossil fuels, which have already brought so much trouble to Ukraine and the world. The partnership under this memorandum accelerates investments in infrastructure according to the principle of “Build Back Better”, renewal of the transport fleet, flexibility in the choice of energy sources, for the continuity of critical logistics functions in case of fuel disruptions, and, most importantly, in the total transition to the use of our own local energy with zero CO2 emissions and environmental damage. I am grateful to the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Government of Ukraine for supporting this important initiative in this difficult time”, – said the President of the European Association for Electromobility, Sustainable Transport and Infrastructure of Ukraine AVERE Ukraine Denys Radiuk.
Currently, 26 countries have signed the Global Memorandum of Understanding. The full list of signatories can be viewed here.
Since COP26 last year, participating countries have been meeting regularly to lay the groundwork for achieving the ambitious 2030 and 2040 targets for zero-emission transport. To this end, the organizers and signatories of the Global MoU have developed an Intergovernmental Action Plan for the Global MoU on Zero Emission Medium and Heavy Duty Vehicles. The Action Plan summarizes the measures taken to date and proposes recommendations for further actions to help these countries achieve their goals.
The goal of the Global MoU is based on real data on model availability and technology readiness. Medium and heavy-duty vehicles have historically been considered a difficult segment to electrify, but there are now more than 800 zero-emission vehicles on the global market.