States, Provinces, Euro Countries Pledge to Ban Fossil Fuel Vehicles By 2050
The internal combustion engine, with all its amazing sounds and brutal power, looks slated to become endangered if a group of politicians have their say about it. The ZEV Alliance wants to completely ban the sale of non-zero-emissions vehicles in its members’ constituencies by 2050.
That’s just a mere 35 years away, folks.
However, those ZEV Alliance members — California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, British Columbia, Québec, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom — may not have the legal authority to ban such vehicles, so this might all be for nothing.
(Also, according to Car & Driver, Québec is a country now. That’s good news for separatists.)
In addition to the ZEV Alliance, mayors on the United States west coast have also pledged to reduce carbon emissions some 80 percent by 2050, reports Green Car Reports.
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and Eugene have signed a declaration stating they would move city-owned fleets to either electric or biodiesel, and invest more in public transit.
More by Mark Stevenson
Comments
Join the conversation
"It will be actual policy in a decade." Then I must take umbrage! I'll see if my Target pharmacy has some.
The grandiose claims of triumph in Paris represent the self-interest of a political elite that wants more control over the private economy in the U.S. and around the world. These are the last people who will save the planet. http://www.wsj.com/articles/paris-climate-of-conformity-1450048095?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb
Meanwhile, outside of the faculty lounge: India is opening a mine a month as it races to double coal output by 2020, putting the world's third-largest polluter at the forefront of a pan-Asian dash to burn more of the dirty fossil fuel that environmentalists fear will upend international efforts to contain global warming. Close to 200 nations are set to meet at a United Nations summit from Nov. 30-Dec. 11 to hammer out a deal to slow man-made climate change by weaning countries off fossil fuels. China has promised to restrict public funding for coal and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trumpeting investment in renewable energy, but in Asia's biggest economies the reality is that coal is still regarded as the easiest source of energy. "Environment is non-negotiable but we can't live without coal. You can't wish away coal," said Anil Swarup, the top official in India's coal ministry, who is leading the push to open new mines like Magadh, in poor but resource-rich Jharkhand state. "There is a temporary drop in demand, but no question of reducing coal output. We are well short of coal required in the country." ASIA KEEPS DIGGING China, India and Indonesia now burn 71 percent of the world's newly mined coal according to the World Coal Association, with new European and North American consumption negligible as their countries turn to cleaner energy. Other Asian nations are increasingly looking to coal to power their economies too, with Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam opening new plants, pushing the Asia/Pacific region to 80 percent of new coal plants. "Coal is still the most cost competitive power generation fuel, and in the end that's what matters most for emerging markets," said Frederic Neumann, Co-Head Of Asian Economic Research at HSBC in Hong Kong. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/indl-goods/svs/metals-mining/india-aims-to-start-asias-biggest-coal-mine-in-five-years/articleshow/49235473.cms
No amount of blsht will change the reality of unrestricted hydrocarbon use, global warming or not. There are too many poor people in the world.