MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay now a part of the Alliance for the Decarbonization of Transport

The decarbonization of transport is “one of the greatest challenges facing the world,” according to Paganini

Uruguay's entry into the Alliance for the Decarbonization of Transport was formalized Friday when Industry, Energy and Mining Minister Omar Paganini Friday took part in the virtual Transport Forum Summit 2021, an event organized by the OECD.

“We believe that joint work between countries, cities and companies will accelerate the transformation of the transport sector towards effective decarbonisation,” said Paganini.

The Alliance includes countries, cities and companies which share a common goal and exchange experiences to advance in the decarbonization of transport, which is “one of the greatest challenges facing the world,” according to Paganini.

Uruguay “has made significant progress in the decarbonization of its economy” through the transformation of its electricity matrix, which today comes from more than 97% renewable sources, which is something of which his country should take advantage, Paganini explained.

He also mentioned that Uruguay was developing a series of initiatives in that regard. The first of these projects is the Movés inter-institutional project, which is “deepening the public framework” to promote the acquisition of sustainable vehicles. “We have begun to replace diesel buses with electric buses, which are already circulating; this project continues to advance,” the minister underlined.

He also highlighted the importance of the H2U project, focused on green hydrogen, which seeks to benefit from Uruguay's potential in renewable electricity generation to create new applications in green hydrogen and, specifically, in cargo transportation. Paganini said that a pilot project is being started, although the national strategy in this area is envisioned to yield results in 15 years.

Paganini also underscored the tax incentives for the replacement of combustion-engined vehicles for electric ones. “We deployed a national electric charging network to support” this objective, said the minister. “We are eager to share these initiatives, and of course also to learn from the initiatives of our new peers,” the minister said in his closing argument.