China to Ban Gasoline, Diesel Engines

China’s central government confirms it is developing a plan to ban the production and sale of vehicles powered by fossil fuels. A timetable has not been set.

The Xin Guobin, vice minister of China’s industry and information technology, tells Bloomberg News that his agency is working with other regulatory ministries to coordinate the timing of the policy.

China has promised to cap its emissions of carbon—a byproduct of petroleum combustion—by 2030. Earlier this year France and the U.K. declared they would ban vehicles fueled by gasoline or diesel fuel by 2040.

Such policies are being driven by demanding emission and fuel efficiency regulations worldwide. Those pressures have triggered a seismic shift toward electrified powertrains by virtually every car company worldwide.

Bloomberg says China aims to support its switch to electric vehicles by gradually replacing government subsidies to makers of so-called new-energy vehicles. Replacing the payments will be a cap-and-trade scheme that enables companies that surpass the targets to sell credits to those that don’t.