International Council on Clean Transportation

The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) is an independent, nonprofit research organization operating as a global public policy think tank. It provides objective, timely research and technical and scientific analysis to environmental regulators and policymakers worldwide. The organization holds Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal status.

The ICCT began in 2001 in Bellagio, Italy, when international policymakers and technical experts gathered to address soaring transportation emissions and a lack of meaningful government action. It formally incorporated as a mission-driven, non-governmental organization in 2005. Its mission is to improve the environmental performance and energy efficiency of on-road, off-road, marine, and air transportation, in order to benefit public health and mitigate climate change.

The ICCT is headquartered on K Street in Washington, D.C., with a regional office in San Francisco, California, and international offices in São Paulo, Brazil; Berlin, Germany; and Beijing, China. It is widely known for its role in uncovering the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal ("Dieselgate"), having commissioned real-world emissions testing that revealed VW diesel engines emitted nitrogen oxides far above U.S. regulatory limits.

A central pillar of its current research is transport decarbonization through electrification. The ICCT regards electric vehicles as the single most important technology for decarbonizing the transport sector, noting their higher energy-conversion efficiency and lower life-cycle emissions compared to gasoline and diesel vehicles. Innovations in clean transportation are therefore directly relevant to the organization's research and policy mission.