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GM, the fifth largest automaker in the world, also announced its intention to become carbon neutral by 2040. This meant that both its vehicles on the road and its own facilities would together generate net zero carbon emissions. This goal would be accomplished, it said, by a combination of switching to EVs, improving the energy-efficiency of its factories and offices, and purchasing carbon offsets. "General Motors is joining governments and companies around the globe working to establish a safer, greener and better world," said Mary Barra, GM's chairman and CEO. The company publicized its plans with a funny Super Bowl ad, which featured the actors Will Ferrell, Kenan Thompson, and Awkwafina on a spoof trip to Norway to challenge that county's dominance in electric vehicles. The tagline: "We're coming Norway." Many hailed General Motors' announcement as a breakthrough corporate commitment to combat climate change. According to the EPA, passenger cars and light trucks produced 16 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The Environmental Defense Fund, an advocacy group. praised GM, saying if the auto industry could go all-electric by 2040, it would reduce carbon emissions by 600 million metric tons a year, helping stabilize the climate. It would also reduce nitrogen oxide and particulate pollution, leading to cleaner air. Investors apparently liked the idea the company's share price shot up more the 7 percent on the news. But some pointed to weaknesses in GM's plan. The environmental impact of electric vehicles depended entirely on the energy source that fed their batteries. EVs plugged into an electrical grid supplied by natural gas or coal-fired power plants would still indirectly contribute to carbon emissions. Adoption of EVs would thus have to go hand in hand with a switch to renewable energy to make a difference. Even if the company's plan were fully implemented many gas-powered GM cars and trucks would remain on the roads for many years to come, as the average age of a vehicle in the United States was 11 years. Not everyone trusted General Motors publicly touted commitment to carbon neutrality. One reason was the company's recent about-face on federal fuel economy standards. After President Trump took office, he rolled back stringent miles-per-gallon goals set by the Obama administration and legally challenged the right of California to make its own, stricter rules. GM sided with the Trump administration. But right after the 2020 election, the company backed off, withdrawing from the lawsuit against California. The company's flip flop angered many environmentalists. "I don't think they're good faith negotiators we can trust," said the director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign, a project of the Center for Biological Diversity. Would consumers buy GM's new line of EVs? In 2019, Americans purchased 17 million vehicles. Only a quarter of a million of them were all-electric, and most of these were expensive Tesla models out of reach of most buyers. A spokesperson for the American Petroleum Institute scoffed at GM's plans to switch to EVs, calling on policymakers to protect Americans' right to choose the cars they want to drive." GM's chief sustainability officer pushed back on this view, saying he believed consumers were at a "classic tipping point." As choices expanded, consumers would take another look at EVs, he felt, especially in view of significant cost benefits in lower fuel and maintenance costs over the life of their vehicles. A shift from gas-powered to electric vehicles would both destroy and create American jobs. Many gas station attendants, engine mechanics, and auto factory workers would be laid off, for example. The United Auto Workers estimated that EVs-which had fewer moving parts-might reduce labor hours per vehicle by 30 percent. But other people would be hired to work in battery and electric parts production, charging station construction and maintenance, mineral mining, and EV assembly. General Motor's announcement was consistent in some ways with evolving public policy. Just four months earlier, California-with the largest car market in the United States-had announced that all new cars and passenger trucks sold in the state would have to be zero-emission by 2035. On the federal level, in one of his first acts in office, President Biden had signed an executive order ordering the conversion of the more than half a million vehicles in the federal fleet, including postal delivery trucks, to clean and zero-emission technology. Just by itself, this would increase the number of EVs in the United States by 50 percent. page 236 For GM to make good on its pledge, it would need continued government support. In 2021, the U.S. government subsidized electric car purchases with a $7,500 tax credit. But the subsidy phased out after a threshold number of cars sold, and General Motors had already almost reached its cap. An extension of these credits would certainly boost EV sales. And much work remained to advance the underlying technologies, from batteries to charging equipment. Said the company's chief sustainability officer, "I think government will play an important role in incentivizing the research and development that's needed. Sources: "GM Will Sell Only Zero-Emission Vehicles by 2035," The New York Times, January 28, 2021; "GM Hopes to Eliminate Gas Vehicles, Have All-Electric Portfolio by 2040," Detroit Free Press, January 28, 2021; "GM to Sell Only Zero-Emission Models by 2035," Fortune, January 29, 2021; "Why GM's Clean Cars Announcement is a Really Big Deal," Environmental Defense Fund, January 28, 2021; "How General Motors Is Planning to Become Carbon Neutral by 2040," PBS interview with Dane Parker, chief sustainability officer of GM, February 15, 2021, PBS Newshour; "Autoworkers Face Uncertain Future in an Era of Electric Cars, TechXplore, February 11, 2021; "Biden Wants an All-Electric Federal Fleet," The Washington Post, January 28, 2021; and "General Motors Sides with Trump in Emissions Fight, Splitting Industry." The New York Times, October 28, 2019.