This year's United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in Glasgow, United Kingdom. The event will take place from Sunday, October 31st to Friday, November 12th. This year's slogan is “Uniting the world to tackle climate change.” The summit hopes to bring various parties together in hopes of augmenting action towards the Paris Climate Agreement and the UN to bring about Climate Change.

LEVA-EU is a non-profit organization that doubles as a guide to light electric vehicle businesses in Europe. They believe that if individuals transitioned to Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) like e-scooters, electric (cargo) cycles, e-mopeds, e-motorcycles, and small three- and four-wheeled e-vehicles, then there would be a significant reduction in carbon emissions that come from automobiles. However, LEVA-EU states that policy and decision-makers often mistake the assumption that replacing LEVs with engine vehicles that are similarly sized to electric cars is adequate in the goal of achieving the goal of reducing transport emissions.

LEVA-EU believes that assumption is inaccurate due to the growing demand for transport along with the current number of passenger cars, even if electric, which will result in a devastating impact on precious resources.

LEVA-EU manager Annick Roetnyck said “As with electrically powered passenger cars, LEVs allow for emissions from a combustion process, as seen in petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles, to be eliminated, In contrast to the large and heavy passenger cars, however, the batteries and vehicles themselves are considerably smaller and lighter, so that the consumption of critical raw materials is also reduced, thus considerably lowering production-related greenhouse gas emissions.”

Almost everyone can agree that there needs to be a major reduction, at least 50%, in CO2 emissions caused by transportation. And, according to the UN Economic Commission for Europe, this needs to happen by 2050. Due to this inaccurate assumption by policymakers, LEVA-EU has commissioned research from DLR, the International Cargo Bike Festival, Zedify, and micro-mobility consultancy Mved. The non-profit hopes that the research will result in heightened awareness, especially among decision-makers, of the potential LEVs have in fighting climate change.

The research will use Germany, whose Greenhouse Gas (GHG) represents around 20% of the national GHG emissions from transport alone. The research will also relegate the potential LEVs could have by 2030. Roetynck goes on to say that the “evaluation of passenger car use in Germany shows that 60% of vehicle mileage results from trips under 50km and 75% from trips under 100km.”Meaning that about 46% of GHG emissions are caused by trips under 100 km. LEVA-EU hopes the evidence from the research changes the minds of policymakers, especially in the hopes of them understanding that transportation could be supplemented with LEVs, which would in effect lead to a hefty decrease in emissions.