Norway Has Plan To Ban New Sales Of Gas-Powered Cars After 2025

Lawmakers in Norway may have a plan to ban the sale of new gas- and diesel-powered vehicles by 2025.

That's the headline from a Norwegian business newspaper reporting the country's four major political parties have signed on to an energy policy plan.

That plan says all new cars sold after 2025 must be emissions-free and clamps down on heavier vehicle emissions by 2030. The policy hasn't been formally announced and could be subject to change.

Norway is currently pursuing an ambitious climate goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030. To that end, the country's been encouraging its citizens to pick up electric cars by subsidizing their sales and exempting them from steep vehicle taxes.

So far, the government's plan seems to be paying off: Electric vehicles accounted for 18 percent of new car sales last year, a sharp increase from previous years. Reaching the government's zero-emissions milestone by 2025 will still be difficult — but not impossible.

The glut of new electric vehicles has created some new headaches for the Norwegian government; the country's electric charging infrastructure is still underdeveloped, and some of the tax breaks for electric vehicles are causing budget issues for local governments.

But the proposal did earn the entire country an attaboy tweet from Elon Musk, so that's something.

This video includes clips from CBS and Recode, and features music from Chris Zabriskie / CC BY 3.0.