As of: January 30, 2024, 10:35 a.m
By: Amy Walker
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Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
© Brook Mitchell/dpa
The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) is calling for more government intervention against popular SUV models.
The cars are harmful to the climate and dangerous for pedestrians.
Paris - They are popular even though they consume a lot of energy and space: SUVs or off-road vehicles are being bought more and more around the world.
It's not just the combustion engine models that are enjoying great popularity: more and more electric models are also being seen on the roads as SUVs.
But the large off-road vehicles always cause trouble.
In large cities, where there is already a lack of space, they take up a lot of space, especially when parking.
In addition, the large combustion engine models are real fuel guzzlers.
That is why the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, is calling for government intervention against the growing popularity of these city off-road vehicles.
SUVs are becoming increasingly important everywhere
“It is crucial to solve the problems they pose in terms of additional energy demands, public space taken up and additional danger to pedestrians,” Birol told the newspaper Les Échos in on Monday (January 29
)
. Paris.
States should advise customers not to buy an SUV and take regulatory action in view of the trend towards heavy vehicles.
This could take the form of higher taxation or higher parking fees.
“If you look at the transport sector in general, you see two very strong trends: the increasing importance of electric vehicles, but also the increasingly important place that SUVs are taking,” said Birol.
Paris begins citizen survey on SUV fees
According to IEA data, SUVs accounted for almost half of global new car sales in 2023, at 48 percent.
In Europe they even exceeded the 50 percent mark.
Because of their higher weight and less aerodynamic shape, SUVs emit an average of 20 percent more CO₂ than sedans.
The IEA, based in Paris, is an interest group that advises industrialized countries on energy issues.
On Sunday there will be a public poll in Paris on the plan to charge three times as much parking for large city SUVs as for ordinary cars.
The city argues that the special tariff of 18 euros per hour in the center and 12 euros in the outskirts should limit the nuisance caused by SUVs.
At the same time, it is about sending a message to the automotive industry that the big cars are endangering ecological change.
With material from dpa