Some of the biggest players in the car industry poured cold water on the idea that COP26 could be the beginning of the end of the combustion engine era.
According to a declaration published Wednesday, the U.K. COP26 presidency wanted to get governments, manufacturers and investors to promise to "work towards all sales of new cars and vans being zero emission globally by 2040, and by no later than 2035 in leading markets."
But the proposal wasn't signed by several key countries and companies.
Germany, China, Japan, South Korea and the United States did not sign the declaration. Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW and Nissan also refrained from signing.
German Environment Minister Jochen Flasbarth said Wednesday that Germany and other states "could have signed" the declaration if the U.K. Presidency had not put an "unnecessary barrier" in place, referring to the fact that the agreement didn't take synthetic fuels into account.
Still, there were some notable signatories. Ford and General Motors agreed, as did Jaguar Land Rover Mercedes-Benz and Volvo. Among countries, U.S. states and cities that signed up were the U.K., Canada, Poland, Kenya, India, Australian Capital Territory, Catalonia, Atlanta, San Diego, New York City, San Francisco and Seoul.
