LOS ANGELES, Aug 25, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - All new cars sold in California by
2035 will have to be zero emission under plans set to be adopted by the state
this week, as the biggest economy in the United States drives a nationwide
fossil fuel evolution.

Proposals to be debated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) this
week will formalize targets set by Governor Gavin Newsom -- and will likely
prod other US states in the same direction.

The plans, which board member Daniel Sperling recently told CNN he was "99.9
percent" confident would be adopted, also include incremental steps mandating
more than a third of 2026 car sales in the state be zero emission, and over
two-thirds by 2030.

"This is monumental," Sperling told CNN. "This is the most important thing
that CARB has done in the last 30 years. It's important not just for
California, but it's important for the country and the world."

California's more-than 40 million consumers make it the biggest market in the
United States.

As such, rules imposed there impact manufacturers' production plans across
the country, as well as further afield, because they cannot afford to miss
out.

This means California can, in effect, set national standards.

The likely ruling Thursday comes on the heels of a climate law signed last
week by US President Joe Biden, which sets aside hundreds of millions of
dollars in incentives for clean energy programs.

Biden and his Democratic Party are rushing to make up climate policy ground
they feel was lost under former president Donald Trump, who yanked the United
States out of the Paris Climate Accord and reversed what many
environmentalists viewed as already-weak progress in combating the fossil
fuel emissions that drive global warming.

In recent years jurisdictions around the world, notably in Europe, have set
their sights on the polluting automobile sector.

Norway is aiming to have all new cars produce zero tailpipe emissions by
2025.

The UK, Singapore and Israel are eyeing 2030, while the European Union wants
to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035.

Human-caused global warming has already raised average temperatures around
the planet, affecting weather patterns and worsening natural hazards like
wildfires and storms.

Scientists say dramatic action is required to limit the damage, and point to
curbing emissions from fossil fuels as key to the battle.