Press release

Global Fuel Economy Initiative's networking meeting

Materials from the GFEI’s global networking meeting, held June 20 and 21 at UNEP’s headquarters in Paris, are now online here. Quoting from the GFEI site’s description of the event:

[D]elegates heard presentations from experts on fuel economy trends, policies and impacts, before a session in which representatives from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus were able to report on and share experience in the issue from their perspective. This session established some core themes in terms of addressing the issue of fuel economy, such as data availability, changing consumer habits, the role of imports and secondhand vehicles, and the importance of vehicle maintenance. 

After a wonderful dinner in the heart of Paris’ beautiful Montmartre district, delegates reported fresh and eager for the second training day. Here, the GFEI Toolkit was shared and explained, and the key issues of data, and financial and regulatory systems were considered in greater detail. Again, some key issues emerged, such as the importance of policy design in the case of scrappage schemes, the significance of the test cycle and the huge potential of consumer information and labelling. 

In addition to presentations by ICCT Europe’s Peter Mock and ICCT’s founding chair Michael Walsh, there are informative materials from the IEA and a number of non-OECD countries.