Lyft, the renowned transportation network company headquartered in San Francisco, California, has recently announced its plans to set up climate impact goals with a view to play its part in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere. As per reports, the autonomous car market player aims to power all the electric self-driving vehicles on its platform with 100% renewable energy. In addition, Lyft plans to provide at least 1 billion rides per year using these renewable energy powered electric vehicles by the 2025.

The first of this month witnessed U.S. President Donald Trump declaring that the United States would officially withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. Following the announcement, there were talks of a new accord being renegotiated, though nothing has been formulated yet. At the time, the President blatantly stated that the agreement’s focus was more about other nations achieving a financial edge over the U.S. than bringing forth climatic change goals. As per experts, Lyft’s ambitious climate change goals seem to have stemmed from Trump’s announcement. On these grounds, the company has joined a federation of 9 states, 125 cities, and 902 businesses that is formally in agreement to uphold to Paris Climate Accord, despite the President’s decision to withdraw the United States from the agreement.

Lyft’s co-founders have stated that climate change is indeed one of the greatest threats of our time, pertaining to which the company has drafted a goal plan to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from the transportation industry of the United States by a minimum of 5 million tons annually, by 2025. Acting upon the same, it has also incorporated renowned environmentalist and executive director of Project Drawdown as its climate advisor.

However, not all the vehicles on Lyft’s platform are electric. As battery-powered technology progresses, the company expects a vast number of automated, electric cars on its platform. One of Lyft’s co-founders had stated that as opposed to cases where it takes more than 10 years to recover the cost premium, Lyft’s vehicles will be utilized more than 50% of the time and costs are likely to be recovered in just a few years.

Another one of Lyft’s top officials was quoted stating that considering the goals set by the company, if the aim is to solely reduce the carbon emissions, the vehicles need to be powered with clean energy sources. This is exactly what has prompted Lyft to ensure that all its electric vehicles are powered by 100% renewable energy by the year 2025. As per experts, the eight years are likely to go by in a flash, considering the pace at which driverless technology and automation seem to be progressing. Lyft’s plans to combine the electrification and automation trends is likely to reflect heavily on global automotive market, giving rise to numerous autonomous technology and automaker partnerships in the future.