California on precipice of making one of the most important climate change moves

On Thursday, the California Air Resources Board is expected to release a new proposal that will require all cars sold in the Golden State be 100% greenhouse gas emissions-free by 2035. This new rule—in the world’s 11th largest car market and the largest car market in the United States—is an enormous win for environmentalists and people who like breathing air. Conversely, it puts that much more pressure on the automobile industry to do what they should have done to update their cars and business model decades ago.

The New York Times reports that the new rule would also set “interim targets, requiring that 35 percent of new passenger vehicles sold by 2026 produce zero emissions. That requirement climbs to 68 percent by 2030.” Coalition for Clean Air’s Bill Magavern told Sacremento affiliate KTXL: “This is going to do a lot to clean up the air in California and to fight the crisis that we have of air pollution and climate change.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters that this new rule would be the end of gas-powered cars. “Our kids are going to act like it’s a rotary phone, or changing the channel on a television.”