SACRAMENTO — California will ban the sale of new gasoline-only cars starting in 2035, the most aggressive action Gov. Gavin Newsom has yet taken to combat the causes of climate change.
Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday requiring that all new passenger vehicles sold in California by 2035 be zero-emission — a category that includes battery-powered electric cars, those that run on hydrogen fuel cells, and plug-in hybrids, which still use some gasoline or diesel in addition to electricity.
The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in California, accounting for more than 40% of its planet-warming gases in 2017, the most recent year for which data are available. The state estimates that mandating 100% of new passenger cars and trucks be zero-emission would reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by more than a third.
“This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change,” Newsom said in a statement. “For too many decades, we have allowed cars to pollute the air that our children and families breathe. You deserve to have a car that doesn’t give your kids asthma. Our cars shouldn’t make wildfires worse — and create more days filled with smoky air. Cars shouldn’t melt glaciers or raise sea levels threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines.”
The governor’s order would not prohibit Californians from owning gas-powered vehicles or selling them on the used-car market. It follows similar pledges by countries including the United Kingdom and France to transition entirely to sales of new zero-emissions vehicles over the coming decades.
For weeks, as large swaths of California have burned in a record wildfire season, Newsom has sounded the alarm on the “climate damn emergency” that is contributing to more severe fires and said the state must move more swiftly to combat it.
But he has faced criticism from environmentalists for not backing up his rhetoric. Activists have been particularly incensed that his administration has not clamped down on oil and gas drilling, issuing more new permits in the first half of 2020 than over the same six months of 2019.
Newsom said the ban on new gas-only vehicles would accelerate California’s transition away from fossil fuels, a major contributing factor to climate change. He also said he would ask the Legislature to pass a law ending the issuance of new permits for hydraulic fracturing, the controversial natural gas extraction method known also known as fracking, by 2024.
Earlier this summer, California adopted a first-in-the-nation requirement that would require automakers to begin selling zero-emission big rigs starting in 2024 and would force most new trucks to go emissions-free by 2035.
Newsom also signed a deal with four car companies last year to boost the fuel efficiency of their new models above federal targets, putting California on a collision course with the Trump administration.
Alexei Koseff and Dustin Gardiner are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff @dustingardiner
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California to ban sale of new gas-only cars in 2035 under Newsom order - San Francisco Chronicle
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