Toyota, VW and Stellantis refuse to commit to 2040 combustion ban

Efforts to slash carbon emissions to curb global warming has hit the buffers at Glasgow's COP26 summit after Toyota, Volkswagen and Stellantis refused to commit to phasing out fossil-fuel vehicles by 2040.

Despite headline signatories that included Ford, General Motors and Volvo, as well as the world's second-most populous country India, the absence of the world's top-selling car-makers Toyota (9.53m) and Volkswagen (9.31m) is a massive blow.

It's been reported that car-makers who didn't sign up were wary of committing to targets without similar action from governments to ensure they wouldn't have to foot the bill for the necessary charging and power grid infrastructure as well as the cost to develop the new tech.

Honda, Nissan and Hyundai Motor Group were also among the list of non-signatories.

Agreeing to the 2040 transitional date was Daimler (which includes Mercedes-Benz), China's BYD and Jaguar Land Rover.

Adding salt to the wound at the climate talks in Scotland was the news that major car markets China, the United States and Germany also refused to commit to the 2040 ban.

Originally, it was hoped an earlier 2035 transitional date might have been agreed upon, but that was judged unrealistic by attendees.

Commenting on the poor outcome, Martin Kaiser, executive director of Greenpeace Germany, said the absence of the major economies and producers was "gravely concerning".

"To stop new fossil fuels, we need to cut off our dependency," he said.

"That means moving on from combustion engines towards electric vehicles and creating clean public transport networks without delay."

Germany, meanwhile, clarified why it had refused to sign up to either the 2035 or 2040 date because it feared the pledge would ban cars powered by fuels made from renewable energy.

According to data from the International Energy Agency, around 25 per cent of global carbon emissions are from cars, trucks, buses and planes.