The Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI) is a partnership of six organizations which aims to double vehicle fuel efficiency globally by 2050, thereby significantly contributing to the fight against climate change whilst saving consumers money. The initiative is part of and contributes towards the Sustainable Energy for All Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform.

The global car fleet is predicted to triple by 2050, with most of the growth in developing countries. Maximizing fuel efficiency using existing, cost-effective technologies could halve CO2 emissions of the global fleet by 2050.

Research shows that economy improvements from conventional internal combustion engine cars could save $2 trillion over the next decade, resources which could in part be used to help offset the costs of developing a global market for electric vehicles since the savings are estimated to be at least four times bigger than these costs.

GFEI is already assisting countries such as Indonesia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Chile in developing fuel economy policies, and intends to expand the initiative to many more.

Partners and Objectives

GFEI partners are the International Energy Agency (IEA), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Transport Forum of the OECD (ITF), the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), the Institute for Transportation Studies at UC Davis, and the FIA Foundation. Key support for the GFEI is being provided by the European Commission, the Global Environment Facility and the FIA Foundation among others.

The initiative also works in global policy processes, including the UNFCCC, G20 and Post 2015 framework, to promote fuel economy as part of energy efficiency, whilst backing-up this advocacy and capacity building with cutting edge research.

The three core activities of the GFEI are:

1. Data and research analysis of fuel economy potentials by country and region
2. In-country capacity-building support for national and regional policy-making efforts
3. Outreach and awareness campaigns raising to stakeholders, e.g. vehicle manufacturers.

Using the skills and expertise of its partners, the GFEI Toolkit team is able to:

• establish a baseline in each country
• present policy options and case studies
• enable all stakeholders to engage in the policy process.

Photo credit: David Kerwood (Flickr)