China is in a good position to play a leadership role in the efforts to build a global new energy vehicle (EV) industrial ecosystem, as the world moves ahead toward meeting the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, according to Katrin Luger, section chief of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
Speaking on the sidelines of the China EV100 Forum 2025, which concluded on Sunday in Beijing, Luger said there is impressive global growth of NEV, but regional disparities persist.
The global NEV market has expanded nearly eightfold in the past four years. According to UN data, by 2024, NEVs accounted for 20 percent of global car sales, with China contributing more than 60 percent of these sales.
While other Asia-Pacific nations, such as Thailand and South Korea, have seen significant growth in their respective NEV sectors, Europe's NEV sales declined by 2.2 percent year-on-year in 2024. Meanwhile, the United States continues to lag behind, with relatively low NEV adoption rates as of early 2025.
"It's quite impressive; unfortunately, it's not impressive enough. The growth is still too slow in order to deliver, [and] regional differences are profound. The United Nations is supporting that transition. We are facilitating knowledge exchange, we are facilitating peer learning, and we're providing technical assistance and capability building, for instance, in the area of building electric mobility frameworks," said Luger, who is responsible for ESCAP's transport division.
Luger emphasized that to meet the long-term targets of the Paris Agreement, 60 percent of global new car sales need to be NEVs by 2030 to limit the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. In support of this goal, the UN launched the "Asia-Pacific Electric Mobility Initiative" last year to foster collaboration among member countries, share knowledge, and accelerate the global transition to low-carbon transportation.
"China has actually shared its knowledge quite significantly. I think it is a win-win cooperation because other countries can avoid some of the pitfalls and challenges that China has encountered on its journey. But also, China can build its leadership in this field and build a whole industrial ecosystem," Luger added.
The three-day China EV100 Forum 2025 highlighted the latest trends and policies in NEVs, including intelligent development and the emerging ecosystem of integrated industries.
It featured 12 sessions under the theme "Strengthening Electrification and Advancing Intelligence for High-Quality Development," bringing together government officials and representatives from various sectors, such as automotive, energy, transportation, and telecommunications, for the discussion.
UN official welcomes China's leadership role in fostering global NEV industrial ecosystem
UN official welcomes China's leadership role in fostering global NEV industrial ecosystem
