Starting Thursday (25th), California must begin implementing its plan to ban the sale of new gasoline cars, according to an article in New York times. The rule, issued by the Air Resources Board, would require all new vehicles sold in the state by 2035 to be free of fossil fuel emissions.
The restrictions matter because California is not only the largest auto market in the United States, but also because more than a dozen other states are following California in setting their own emissions standards.
At least 12 more states could adopt the new zero-emissions vehicle rule in California soon. Five more states are expected to adopt it within about a year, according to a New York Times report. If these states go ahead, restrictions on gasoline car sales will apply to about a third of the US auto market.
“This is huge,” said Margo Auge, an electric vehicle expert who led the Environmental Protection Agency’s transportation emissions program under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. “California will now be the only government in the world that requires zero-emissions vehicles,” he says.
The challenge for car manufacturers
John Bosella, president of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents major US and foreign automakers, said mandates for new electric vehicle sales in California would be “extremely difficult” to meet.
“Whether or not these requirements are realistic or achievable is directly related to external factors such as inflation, transshipment and fuel infrastructure, supply chains, employment, critical metal availability and prices, and persistent shortages of semiconductors,” he said. Bosella via e-mail.
US President Joe Biden last week signed a climate law that invests $370 billion in spending and tax credits in clean energy programs. This is the largest measure the federal government has taken in the country to combat climate change.
The enactment of this law should help the United States reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 2005 levels by the end of this decade.
However, decarbonizing the US economy by 2050 will not be enough, a goal that climate scientists say all major economies must achieve if the world is to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change.
This content was developed by work season. Read more articles on ESG and sustainability from the perspective of Época Negócios em UmSóPlaneta.
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