New Jersey to require all new car and truck sales be zero-emission by 2035
Breanne Deppisch
Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) said he will move to make all new car and truck sales to be zero-emission by 2035, joining a handful of other states in adopting the ambitious electric vehicle target first set by California.
Murphy announced the new timeline for phasing out sales of traditional internal combustion engine vehicles during a speech at Rutgers University on Wednesday.
There, he outlined six new environment-related executive actions he will take to make the Garden State more “green,” including bumping up the state’s deadline by 15 years — setting a goal of reaching 100% clean energy by 2035 rather than 2050.
In setting the zero-emission vehicle target, Murphy will begin the adoption of the Advanced Clean Cars Act II, the standard set by California, which the state previously agreed to follow.
Other actions Murphy said he will take on clean energy targets include passing an executive order with a goal of installing all zero-carbon-emission space heating and cooling systems in 400,000 homes and 20,000 commercial properties by 2030 and using $70 million in state proceeds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative auction proceeds to fund local government purchases of all-electric medium- and heavy-duty trucks and associated charging infrastructure.
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“We can’t undo the impact to our families and communities,” Murphy said in his remarks. “We can’t undo the years of air pollution that have impacted generations of kids with asthma and left our planet warming. We can’t undo the years of water pollution that have degraded rivers and increased health risks, particularly in impacted communities. We can’t undo the rising seas and more extreme rainfall.”
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“But we must and do govern with a deep and abiding belief that we cannot leave our kids and grandkids to fate,” he added. “We must take this on. We must take it on now.”
Murphy has taken a range of other executive actions to help make the state more “green” since taking office in 2018, including roughly doubling New Jersey’s offshore wind target to 11 gigawatts by 2040 last September.
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His proposals earned him the title of America’s “greenest” governor by the League of Conservation Voters during his first term, though it stripped him of that title last month, saying his actions have been eclipsed by other state leaders, including those of California and New York.