News Climate

There’s good and bad news with California’s electric vehicle program

The program is helping to reduce fossil fuel emissions but also exacerbating inequities

A photo of a man at an electric vehicle charging station with a black car parked next to him.

Adoption of electric vehicles is helping California shrink its CO2 emissions. But that electrification is shifting some of the burden of pollution to the state’s most disadvantaged communities.

FREDERIC J. BROWN/Getty Images

By Carolyn Gramling

A worldwide gearshift from fossil fuel–powered cars to electric vehicles could significantly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that humans emit to the atmosphere.