California Gov. Gavin Newsom made a public announcement Wednesday afternoon declaring that California will be moving forward to phase out all gasoline-powered vehicles. According to Newsom 50 percent of California’s greenhouse gas emissions are caused by transportation. Currently the governor of California has mentioned many times that, “we’re facing a climate crisis” and that action needs to be taken immediately. Los Angeles communities are highly impacted by toxic air-pollution.

Newsom plans to have all new cars sold in 2035 be emission-free vehicles in California. This means all cars must be emission free converted in the span of 15 years. This includes passenger vehicles, along with short haul and heavy-duty trucks that tend to make nation-wide deliveries. The California Air Resources Board also plans to develop new regulations to make certain that 100 percent of in-state sales of new cars and trucks are zero-emission. According to the board, this will drop the reduction in greenhouse gas emission 35 percent and have an 80 percent improvement in oxides of nitrogen emissions from cars. It will also reduce toxic diesel emissions by 95 percent.

An effort to lead the nation, California will be joining 15 countries already committed to phase out gasoline-powered cars for zero-emission. Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK are some of those countries which already have a plan for this ban.

Many Californians are very supportive of Newsom’s recent announcement. “I’m all for it going green, protecting and saving the environment,” said La Puente resident Roy Rosal, 29. Rosal suffers from chronic asthma, and believes the ban will help combat chronic illnesses which are prominent in poorer communities.

“I believe that the air quality exacerbates asthma for sure,” Arcadia resident Leo Walhood, 28, said. Walhood, who also suffers from chronic asthma, lived in Boyle Heights just six minutes away from Los Angeles. “When I was living in Boyle Heights I noticed how much harder it was for me to breathe,” Walhood said.

The governor has had a very strong opinion regarding climate change and effects for some time now. “For too many decades, we have allowed cars to pollute the air that our children and families breathe,” Newsom said. He believes that cars should not “give children asthma or create wildfires, melt glaciers or even raise sea levels.”