After changing the game in Bangladesh with Grameen Bank and microcredit, being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and, several years later, finding himself embroiled in a few national scandals, Muhammad Yunus boasts a résumé -too extensive for this humble article- that today qualifies him to scrutinise the relationship between business, individuals, and society.
In brief, his thesis on “social enterprises” places the human being at the centre, beyond mere monetary profit, aiming to address social, economic, health, and environmental issues intrinsic to the market.
After hearing his presentation at the Smart City Expo Latam Congress, Mobility Portal Group asked him whether the automotive sector, in its approach to climate change and its subsequent goals, could genuinely shift towards this concept that, at times, seems to clash with real life or with the so-called “world of appearances”.
“It’s all here,” he responds confidently, pointing to his head with his index finger. He adds, “If you want to, you can do it. It’s about asking yourself, what do you want?”
“Our desires are weakened by other things. Decide and make it happen,” he concludes.
Although the concept of ‘social enterprises’ might sound somewhat idealistic and dreamlike to any empiricist, who would dare to argue with “one of the 12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time,” as dubbed by Fortune Magazine in 2012?
Moreover, while it would be naive to overlook the lobbies behind the energy transition and the numerous interests converging in the current scenario, it is significant that the issue of environmental pollution has stirred up the transport sector.
Deadlines, increasingly imminent and imposed by authorities, are pushing many automakers to swiftly approach Yunus’s “make it happen”.
Such is the case of the European Union, which has set an expiration date for traditional combustion vehicles by 2035, urging automakers to expand their range of electrified offerings.
Thus, companies like General Motors, Volkswagen, BMW Group, Toyota, Nissan, among many others, are making a necessary move towards their social character and setting some deadlines—some sooner than others.
However, there are also reports of some starting to reverse course.
Marin Gjaja, Director of Operations for Ford’s Model E electrification division, stated that the company has revised its original plan to cease the sale of combustion vehicles in Europe within the next six years, as previously announced in 2021.
“We can’t fully commit until our customers do as well, and that’s happening at different rates around the world,” said the executive.
He analysed, “I think customers have made it clear that our goal was too ambitious. This is something the entire industry has had to learn the hard way. Reality forces us to adjust our plans.”
Although global sales of electric vehicles are increasing, the adoption of these units remains a challenge, creating uncertainty even for the most humanitarian automotive firms.
Below are some figures from the latest report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
- In 2023, 14 million electric vehicles were sold worldwide. These sales were 3.5 million more than in 2022, representing a year-on-year increase of 35%. This is six times more than in 2018, just five years earlier.
- In 2023, there were more than 250,000 new registrations per week, exceeding the total annual registrations of 2013, a decade earlier.
- Electric cars accounted for around 18% of the total, compared to 14% in 2022 and just 2% five years earlier, in 2018. Battery electric vehicles represented 70% of the electric vehicle fleet in 2023.
- In 2023, just under 60% of new electric vehicle registrations occurred in the People’s Republic of China, just under 25% in Europe, and in the United States, 10% of global electric vehicle sales represent almost 95% of the total sales of electric vehicles.
- In Latin America, electric vehicle sales reached nearly 90,000 in 2023, with Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico leading the region.
So, how can we accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and ensure it doesn’t become just a new-age desire?
For Yunus, the decision lies with the consumer.
“We don’t need to convince the companies; we need to become them. We don’t need them, we don’t need to use what they produce because that would destroy our children’s lives,” concludes the Nobel laureate.
Could the answer then be a ‘citizen revolution’? Is it really so simple to fall into the ‘non-use of internal combustion vehicles’ to achieve this goal?
