Washington will convert its entire state-owned vehicle fleet to electric by 2040, according to an executive order issued by Gov. Jay Inslee on Sunday.
Inslee discussed the order at a virtual press conference Monday morning with the Washington media. He is attending the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Glasgow, Scotland.
The executive order calls for the electrification of all the state’s light-duty vehicles by 2035 and medium- and heavy-duty fleets by 2040. The order covers roughly 5,000 vehicles.
The plan will be implemented by replacing gas-powered vehicles as they wear out. Inslee will work with the state legislature to obtain state funding, which will then be leveraged to obtain additional federal money.
“The capital costs will not be an insignificant figure,” Inslee said at the press conference. However, the state will save money because of smaller operating and maintenance costs, he said.
Last spring, Washington lawmakers passed a bill that ordered carbon emissions from gasoline and diesel fuel sold in Washington be cut by 10% below 2017 levels by 2028 and 20% by 2035. (See LCFS Bill Passes Washington Legislature.) A 2008 law sets overall carbon-reduction targets of 45% below 1990 levels by 2030, 70% by 2040 and 95% by 2050.
A 2021 Washington Department of Ecology report put the state’s carbon dioxide emissions at 99.57 million metric tons in 2018. The report shows that from 2016 to 2018, the transportation sector was the largest contributor at nearly 45% of emissions.
“This is the kind of nuts-and-bolts thing that enables us to reach our target,” Inslee said.
Inslee’s announcement comes roughly a week after Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced a similarly sweeping climate-based executive order at the Glasgow summit.
Durkan’s order creates new carbon-based building performance standards, bans fossil fuels in city-owned buildings by 2035, and expands access to public transportation, according to KING-TV.
The order calls for Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment to create legislation for carbon-based building performance standards for commercial and multifamily buildings that are 20,000 square feet or larger by July 2022, KING-TV reported. The executive order also bans the use of fossil fuels in city-owned buildings by 2035.