Gas guzzling vehicles are the top source of pollution from greenhouse gases warming the planet and causing climate change.
California has been working on this for years and is getting very aggressive about making strides with the problem.
A plan is in the works to prohibit gasoline-powered cars in California by 2035.
It’s a bold move – maybe not fast enough, according to some climate change scientists, but if it catches on and other countries and US states follow suit, it might make a difference.
If the decision takes hold and spreads, it will speed up the transition to electric vehicles.
Other US states are likely to follow California’s standards.
The plan, approved by the California Air Resources Board, will mandate that fossil fuel emissions in all new cars be eliminated. Right now, the law in California is 12% allowance. The new rule will make vehicles 100% free of dangerous, climate-warming emissions by 2035, with increments from 12% to 100% over the years.
“This is huge,” said Margo Oge, an expert on electric vehicles, “California will now be the only government in the world that mandates zero-emission vehicles. It is unique.” Margo Oge headed the Environmental Protection Agency’s transportation emissions program under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Governor Gavin Newsom of California, said in a statement, “The climate crisis is solvable if we focus on the big, bold steps necessary to stem the tide of carbon pollution.”
It is predicted that at least 12 other states would be willing to enforce the zero-emissions standard in the near future, and five other states are expected to do the same in about a year. If those states follow through on the California regulations, one-third of the US auto market would be affected.
Worldwide, 6.5 million electric vehicles were sold in 2021. That’s an increase of more than 100% over the previous year. More than half a million of those vehicles were sold in the United States.