The first ever summit dedicated to pollution-free cars has kick-started a drive which could improve the environment and create over a thousand jobs in the UK.

Business leaders, ministers and officials from over 40 countries met in Birmingham and Bedford to discuss zero emission technology which could help eradicate pollution on our roads.

Eleven countries signed up to the “Birmingham Declaration” that builds on the Paris Climate Agreement and commits the nations to improving public transport, driving up air quality and making more money available for research and development.

There are currently over 150,000 electric cars and 14,000 charging points around the UK. As well as continuing to encourage the public to go electric, British firms also pledged £500 million worth of investment creating over 1,000 jobs across the UK.

The Westminster government has further backed zero-emissions cars by announcing £106 million for new research and could even launch new green number plates for eco-friendly cars.

Jesse Norman, the English Roads Minister said:

No one nation can tackle the effects of climate change alone. But as a community of nations, taking global action, we can not only have a bigger impact but unlock huge shared economic opportunities.

That’s why the UK hosted the world’s first Zero Emission Summit.

We are working to create a platform for international co-operation and knowledge sharing on emissions issues, gathering together signatories from around the world to agree the Birmingham Declaration and, we hope, helping to create a cleaner, greener legacy for future generations.

The Summit also agreed to a Clean Van Commitment from 16 of the UK’s largest van fleet operators to go completely zero emission in cities by 2028.

Some engineers are going further and working on plans for entire fleets of cars and vans to move over to electric. One, Sujith Kollamthodi from Riccardo, told the Tomorrow’s Engineers campaign about what he hopes to achieve:

Image by UK Department for Transport licensed under OGLv3