California Governor Jerry Brown wants to put 5 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030. The initiative was part of his State of the State speech and formalized in an executive order released on Friday.
California is taking action to dramatically reduce carbon emissions from transportation – a sector that accounts for 50 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and 80 percent of smog-forming pollutants. In order to do that, the state is investing $2.5 billion over the next eight years to bring 250,000 vehicle charging stations and 200 hydrogen fueling stations to California by 2025.
The Governor also detailed the new plan for investing $1.25 billion in cap-and-trade auction proceeds to reduce carbon pollution and improve public health and the environment. This investment comes alongside electric vehicles and will support statewide resiliency projects and climate change technology development.
Governor Brown has been fairly aggressive in proposing legislation and threatening legal action in an effort to support initiatives that get out in front of climate change. The state is pursuing several simultaneous agendas to limit emissions, become more resource efficient and craft resiliency plans for localities.
“This executive order aims to curb carbon pollution from cars and trucks and boost the number of zero-emission vehicles driven in California,” said Governor Brown. “In addition, the cap-and-trade investments will, in varying degrees, reduce California’s carbon footprint and improve the quality of life for all.”
The full text of the cap-and-trade plan is available here.
The full text of the executive order is available here.
