Zeroes out gas

California zeroes out gas-powered cars

By LARA KORTE, JEREMY B. WHITE and SAKURA CANNESTRA

California’s air quality regulator today is set to adopt one of the nation’s most ambitious policies for curbing fossil fuel reliance, which could lead to a total transformation of the automobile market.

The plan would ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035 in California, while also requiring that 35 percent of all new passenger cars sold by 2026 have no emissions, a threshold that would increase to 68 percent by 2030, as POLITICO’s Camille Von Kaenel reports. This day has been in the works for a while — Gov. Gavin Newsomsigned the executive order in 2020 — so you’d be forgiven for forgetting the details.

A quick reminder: California has special permission from the feds to set its own air quality standards, and often goes above and beyond the rest of the country. The expected approval from the California Air Resources Board today would put more power behind the governor’s order, and allow the agency to inflict civil penalties for cars sold in violation of the policy.

When Newsom introduced the policy two years ago, it was clear he was hoping to use California’s massive economy, the fifth-largest in the world, to force car manufacturers to transition away from fossil fuel vehicles. Since then, carmakers have been mostly supportive and investing in zero-emission vehicles. Toyota said Tuesday that its excited about plans to expand those investments, and is “eager to explore the State’s engagement with these efforts.”

Transportation is the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States — the second-top carbon dioxide emitter on the planet behind China, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. More than a dozen states are expected to follow California’s lead in adopting zero-emission vehicle mandates. If they do, it would account for nearly a third of the nation’s entire automobile market.

That would be a big deal not only for California but for Newsom, who has aimed to take big swings and come out first on progressive policy areas he favors. The agency’s adoption of the rule also comes as the administration is in talks with legislators and environmental advocates over climate policy — including how to transition the state’s electrical grid away from gas-powered plants without compromising reliability.