Hainan, an island province in southern China, has finalized a target to ban sales of new fossil-fuel cars from 2030, becoming the country's first province to set that kind of deadline.
Carbon Brief reports that by 2030 the plan requires all new public and commercial vehicles to run on clean energy, and that all new private cars must be new-energy vehicles (with some exceptions). The article also notes expectations that new-energy vehicles will make up 45% of the province's vehicle fleet by 2030.
The timeline is not starting from zero. Carbon Brief says that more than six out of ten new cars sold in Hainan were already new-energy vehicles as of last year, and that charging infrastructure has been built in all townships.
Transport transitions usually happen slowly, with a lot of uncertainty along the way. A clear provincial goal, paired with practical groundwork, is one way to make the direction of travel easier to see and easier to plan for.
