BRUSSELS, Belgium (LifeSiteNews) — The European Union struck a deal Thursday to ban the sale of new combustion engine vehicles in the 27-country bloc by 2035. The report comes after the U.S. states of California and New York already moved to halt new sales of fossil fuel-reliant cars and trucks by the same deadline, with over a dozen other states expected to follow suit.
Representatives of the European Parliament and the European Council rubber-stamped the so-called “Fit for 55” legislative package late Thursday night. The measure aims to cut CO2 emissions allegedly contributing to “climate change”, euronews reported.
According to the report, the legislation will drastically reduce and then effectively ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by aiming to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and 100% by 2035.
EU drivers looking to purchase new cars after the cut-off dates will be forced to buy electric vehicles (EV)s instead of traditional automotive options.
We have a deal!
It’s no wonder the first #Fitfor55 deal is on the CO2 car standards: the pace of change in the past years has been truly remarkable.
EU car industry is ready, consumers are eager to embrace zero-emission mobility. So let’s go full speed ahead! #EUGreenDeal pic.twitter.com/Imsd3qsyle
— Frans Timmermans (@TimmermansEU) October 27, 2022
Jozef Sikela, the Czech Republic’s minister of industry and trade that holds the rotating council presidency, issued a statement praising the decision.
“This agreement will pave the way for the modern and competitive automotive industry in the EU. The world is changing, and we must remain at the forefront of innovation,” Sikela said.
While the legislation will need formal approval before it becomes law, the Council and Parliament are expected to greenlight it “with only minor changes,” The Washington Post reported.
The bloc’s Thursday decision trails similar moves by U.S. states to phase out traditional cars and trucks in an effort to stall “climate change.”
California became the frontrunner in the movement to retire fossil fuel-reliant vehicles in the U.S in 2020 after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom directed state officials to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035, despite the state’s struggles to keep its electric grid functioning thanks to outdated infrastructure and increasing dependency on unreliable “clean energy” sources.
“This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change,” Newsom said in a press statement, arguing that gas-powered cars “pollute the air,” contribute to asthma, “make wildfires worse,” and “melt glaciers or raise sea levels threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines.”
Like California, New York also flipped the kill switch on future combustion engine vehicle sales in September 2022. Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation “to take major regulatory action that will require all new passenger cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs sold in New York State to be zero emissions by 2035.”
READ: New York set to join California in banning new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035
Automotive industry publication CBT News reported last month that 17 states in total are anticipated to mull the adoption of California-style gas-powered vehicle bans in the future.
The hard shift to “clean energy” exemplified by moves to forbid future sales of gas-powered cars has been a central plank of the global left-wing climate agenda and a major component of the WEF’s “Great Reset,” which “seeks to ‘push the reset button’ on the global economy” and “reimagine capitalism.”
WEF founder Klaus Schwab has argued that “[e]very country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed.”
The WEF has also endorsed the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which call for the global implementation of a spate of leftist agenda items ranging from “universal access” to “sexual and reproductive health,” to the “international cooperation aimed at accelerating the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions” by the year 2030.
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Author Ashley Sadler
