A measure, which is likely to be adopted this week, plans several stages to gradually suppress the sale of vehicles with petrol and diesel engines. It could encourage other American states to do the same.
Le Monde with AFP
California is preparing to cross a considerable ecological level. According to a text which must be adopted this week, all the new cars sold in this state will have to be “zero emission” polluting, from 2035, at the latest.
The measure which must be debated on Thursday, August 25, by the Californian office responsible for air quality (California Air Resources Board, Carb), will formalize the objectives set in September 2020 by the Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. According to one of the members of the carb, Daniel Sperling, who spoke to the CNN channel, the project has “99.9 %” of chance of being approved and plans to gradually reduce the sale of diesel vehicles and petrol.
Thus in 2026, a third of cars bought in California will have to concern “zero emission” vehicles – in other words, only those rolling in electricity, hydrogen and certain hybrid engines -, and it will have to two -thirds of sales by 2030.
“it’s monumental”
“It’s monumental,” said Sperling. “This is the most important thing that the Californian office responsible for air quality has made over the past thirty years. It is important not only for California, but for the country and the world.” >
The “Golden State” with its more than 40 million consumers is the largest market in the United States and its standards have an impact on manufacturing production across the country. General Motors has already announced, in January 2021, its intention to no longer build by 2035 polluting emission cars even if the group has not openly committed to offer only electric vehicles in thirteen years.
The probable adoption of this Californian measure should take place while President Joe Biden recently promulgated a vast climate and health investment plan, which includes an envelope of $ 370 billion (around 371 billion euros) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 % by 2030.
In recent years, many countries, especially in Europe, have attempted to limit pollution from the automotive sector. The United Kingdom, Singapore and Israel, were committed to the end of sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030, and Norway made this commitment for 2025.
Human activity, in particular the use of fossil fuels, led to scientists to warming the planet, which in turn contributed to making extreme meteorological phenomena more frequent and more violent. One of the solutions to fight against this warming therefore consists, according to scientists, in limiting polluting emissions from fossil fuels.