(Yicai) July 14 -- A five-year development plan released by Hainan’s authorities proposes that the island province ban the sale of fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2030, which would make it the first of China’s provincial-level regions to prohibit the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles.

Hainan aims to maintain a province-wide ratio of no more than 2.5 new energy vehicles for every charging station, the plan also states.

China’s southernmost province has already emerged as one of the country’s leading areas for electric vehicle adoption. At nearly 63 percent, Hainan led the NEV adoption leaderboard for provincial-level regions last year, while its share of NEVs to the total number of registered cars reached 23 percent, ranking second in the country.

The plan also requires Hainan to achieve its carbon emissions peak before 2030, as scheduled. It sets targets to increase the share of non-fossil energy in total energy consumption to 35 percent in that year from 21 percent in 2024, while raising the share of new energy power generation to total installed capacity to 55 percent from 51 percent.

Moreover, the plan calls on local authorities across Hainan to develop non-fossil energy projects to ensure that power supply mainly comes from clean energy. These include big offshore wind power projects, offshore solar demonstration projects, joint wind and solar power project‌s, geothermal power generation, and the well-timed withdrawal of existing coal-fired power plants.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione