The World Economic Forum hasn’t said private vehicle ownership should be just for the ‘elites’

A Facebook post claims that the World Economic Forum (WEF) has published an article calling for an end to private car ownership and that according to its plans, “only the elite will own vehicles and benefit from individual travel”.

The post shares a link to an article published by the Neon Nettle news blog on July 22, 2022, with the title: “World Economic Forum calls for an end to ‘unnecessary’ private car ownership”.

The article in question quotes an article shared on the WEF website on July 18, 2022, titled: “3 circular economy approaches to reduce demand for critical minerals”.

Among the approaches explored in the article is a transition from “owning to using”, with car-sharing platforms given as an example of how to “reduce the ownership of unused equipment and therefore the use of material” . He also talks about “the mindset needed to redesign cities to reduce private vehicles and other uses.”

However, at no point does the article call for “an end to private car ownership” or that individual travel and vehicle ownership be restricted to the “elites”. The word “waste” does not appear anywhere in the article, although it is placed in quotes in the title of the Neon Nettle post.

Full Fact approached Neon Nettle to comment on their article, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

The WEF had previously written about alternatives to passenger cars in a 2016 article entitled “Goodbye car ownership, hello clean air: welcome to the future of transport”, which envisioned a future in which Autonomous “economically independent” cars could be rented to drivers. This article seems to suggest that private car ownership could be drastically reduced, but does not mention that private vehicles are reserved for the “elite”.

There are a number of conspiracy theories relating to the WEF circulating on social media, many of which suggest that the organization and its founder Klaus Schwaub, as well as other secret actors or organizations, are responsible for social or political events. important and trying to implement their own secret agenda.

We have recently written several articles about false and misleading claims relating to the WEF.

Image courtesy of Ivana Cajina