Washington state may soon push to end the sale of diesel-fueled cars by the year 2030 after a bill was introduced in the state legislature that would require all cars sold be electric. “Without the certainty of a close, attainable date, we are likely to approach the transition off gasoline in an unnecessarily slow and haphazard manner, and cause vast amounts of unnecessary carbon release in the process,” Matthew Metz, co-director of Coltura, told the outlet. Democratic senator pushes for clean electricity standard Other U.S. states such as California and Massachusetts have recently committed to phasing out diesel-fueled cars in the near future. Both states have released plans to have 100 percent of cars sold produce zero emissions by the year 2035. In November, the U.K. moved up its deadline to ban the sale of diesel cars by the year 2030. Automobile manufacturing giant General Motors announced in January that it would seek to shift production to an all-electric light duty fleet by 2035 as part of its goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2040.
McKinsey’s Global Energy Perspective 2021, published on 15 January, forecasts that “electric vehicles are likely to become the most economic choice in the next five years in many parts of the world.” The Guardian, January 22, 2021, https:// www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/22/electric-vehicles-close-to-tipping-point-of-mass- adoption
Washington state bill would require all new cars be electric by 2030, by Joseph Choi, 02/03/21, The Hill, 268 49
© Greg Nash
Washington state may soon push to end the sale of diesel-fueled cars by the year 2030 after a bill was introduced in the state legislature that would require all cars sold be electric. The bill, sponsored by more than two dozen Democrats, was introduced in both legislative chambers in January. The state House Transportation Committee held its first hearing on the bill Monday, which can be read in full at http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2021-22/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1204.pdf?q=20210205091041
ABC News reports that Washington legislators who support the bill said it would speed up the transition from gas-powered vehicles as well as building the infrastructure to support electric vehicles.
Coltura, an environmental nonprofit that helped in drafting the bill, states that 99 percent of vehicles in Washington are gas-powered and the bill would affect over 10 million vehicles in the following 30 years.
Democratic state Rep. Nicole Macri said in a statement, “Clean Cars 2030 will ensure that our policy goals and actions move us rapidly toward a 100 percent clean energy environment and keep pace with what is now a global trend toward vehicle electrification.”
Hydrogen-powered cars, emergency vehicles and vehicles that weigh more than 10,000 pounds would not be affected by the bill, ABC News reports.
“Without the certainty of a close, attainable date, we are likely to approach the transition off gasoline in an unnecessarily slow and haphazard manner, and cause vast amounts of unnecessary carbon release in the process,” Matthew Metz, co-director of Coltura, told the outlet.
Other U.S. states such as California and Massachusetts have recently committed to phasing out diesel-fueled cars in the near future. Both states have released plans to have 100 percent of cars sold produce zero emissions by the year 2035. In November, the U.K. moved up its deadline to ban the sale of diesel cars by the year 2030. Automobile manufacturing giant General Motors announced in January that it would seek to shift production to an all-electric light duty fleet by 2035 as part of its goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2040.
TAGS ELECTRIC VEHICLEENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGYWASHINGTON
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Dominic Frongillo, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Elected Officials to Protect America, www.protectingamerica.net, 607-301-1152
S&P said the push towards green energy would hit oil producers and suppliers
S&P Global Ratings has put some of the biggest oil companies in the world on notice that it could soon downgrade their credit ratings thanks to heightened concerns about climate change and a global push towards greener energy.
The agency – one of the three most influential ratings firms in the world – said it could downgrade the ratings of Chevron, Exxon, Shell and Total among others.
It downgraded the outlook, although not the rating, for both BP and Canadian firm Suncor Energy to “negative”. This means S&P could cut their ratings in the future, although a change is not necessarily imminent.
Credit ratings are very important to big firms, as they heavily influence the costs they face when they borrow in financial markets.
A downgrade usually causes the cost of borrowing to rise. And it can mean that some investment funds are no longer allowed to hold a company’s bonds.
S&P Global Ratings has downgraded its view of the whole oil and gas industry to “moderately high risk”. It said this reflects “our evaluation of increased and likely increasing risks for oil and gas producers”.
The agency said fossil fuel companies face “significant challenges and uncertainties engendered by the energy transition, including market declines due to growth of renewables”.
And it said there were also “pressures on profitability, specifically return on capital, as a result of high dollar capital investment levels over 2005-2015 and lower average oil and gas prices since 2014”.
Yet S&P said it did not intend to downgrade any of the 13 firms on its watch list by more than one notch.
Finance has slowly become more alert to the dangers of climate change and 2021 looks set to be a key year.
President Joe Biden’s US administration has rejoined the Paris climate agreement, which pledges to keep global warming to below 2C (3.6F). The UN climate summit, known as COP26, is also scheduled to take place in September.
Investors are increasingly positioning to ensure they are not left behind by the shift away from fossil fuels. Yesterday, BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink pushed CEOs around the world to publish plans for reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Earlier this week, the European Central Bank said it would invest its own funds in a green bond fund and establish a special climate change team.
