Electric cars for the climate

In the small country of Cabo Verde, an archipelago 570 km off the West coast of Africa, only just under a third of private households own a car. But as tourism develops, people are becoming more prosperous and car ownership is increasing. More vehicles on the road and more traffic are, however, producing more CO₂ emissions. To counter this, the Cabo Verdean Government is planning a massive shift to electric vehicles. The country intends to meet the objectives set out in the Paris Agreement on climate change, and achieve climate neutrality in its road traffic by 2050.

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is helping the Cabo Verdean Government to achieve the move to electric vehicles, and to make these vehicles more attractive for end users. To this end, GIZ and the Ministry of Energy, which is responsible for steering this initiative, have successfully applied for funding from the NAMA Facility, an international funding programme for climate action. It helps developing countries and emerging economies to realise climate change mitigation measures. Funding from the NAMA Facility is awarded on the basis of competitive calls for projects that are open to all sectors and regions.

Rebate programme and public charging stations

The funding for the project in Cabo Verde is being used primarily to make it more attractive to buy electric vehicles. In mid-2022, a rebate programme was launched that will provide rebates to the purchasers of a total of 600 electric vehicles. Additional incentives include exemption from import duties and value added tax on the purchase of new electric vehicles. Public charging stations are to be installed and operated on all nine inhabited islands of the archipelago. Public transport will also be supported to embrace the trend. In future, electric buses are to operate in the country’s two largest cities, Praia and São Vicente. In addition, the country plans to replace all the vehicles on the road with electric models by 2050. To produce green power for the electric vehicles, the percentage of the energy mix generated from renewables is to be increased from its current rate of 20 per cent to 100 per cent by 2040.