The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday granted waivers for two regulations in California that aim to reduce transport emissions¹, including one that will phase out the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles by 2035.

“Under the Clean Air Act, California is afforded the ability to adopt emissions requirements independent from EPA’s regulations to meet its significant air quality challenges”, the EPA said in a statement.



Adopted by the state November 30, 2022, the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) rule sets emission² standards and raises sales of zero-emission vehicles for model years 2026–2035 so that all new passenger cars, trucks and SUVs sold in California are zero-emission by 2035. ACCII builds on ACCI, adopted 2012 for model years 2015–25.

“The regulation will save drivers of clean vehicles $7,500 in maintenance and fuel costs over the first 10 years of use. It also will cut harmful pollutants³ by over 25 percent, save lives and save Californians $13 billion in health costs related to respiratory illnesses”.