California is preparing to cross a considerable ecological threshold. According to a text to be adopted this week, all new cars sold in this state will have to be “zero emission” polluting, from 2035, at the latest.
The measure to be debated Thursday, August 25, by the California Air Quality Board (California Air Resources Board, CARB), will formalize the goals set in September 2020 by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. According to one of the CARB members, Daniel Sperling, who spoke to CNN, the project has « 99,9 % » likely to be approved and provides for different stages to gradually reduce the sale of diesel and petrol vehicles.
Thus in 2026, a third of the cars purchased in California must concern “zero emission” vehicles – in other words, only those running on electricity, hydrogen and certain hybrid engines -, and it must be two thirds sales by 2030.
“It’s monumental”
“It’s monumental”underlined Mr. Sperling. “This is the single most important thing the California Air Quality Bureau has done in the past 30 years. It’s important not just 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 cars with polluting emissions by 2035 even if the group has not openly committed to offering only electric vehicles in thirteen years.
The likely passage of this California measure should come as President Joe Biden recently signed into law a sweeping climate and health investment planwhich includes an envelope of 370 billion dollars (regarding 371 billion euros) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030.
In recent years, many countries, especially in Europe, have tried to limit pollution from the automotive sector. The United Kingdom, Singapore and Israel have committed to ending sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030, and Norway has made this commitment for 2025.
Human activity, in particular the use of fossil fuels, has led, according to scientists, to global warming, which in turn has contributed to making extreme weather events more frequent and more violent. One of the solutions to combat this global warming therefore consists, according to scientists, in limiting polluting emissions from fossil fuels.
