Chinese province plans to ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars

Beijing — Hainan island in the South China Sea says it will become China's first region to ban sales of gasoline- and diesel-powered cars, in an effort to curb climate-changing carbon emissions.

Sales of fossil fuel-powered cars will be banned by 2030 and electric vehicles promoted with tax breaks and by expanding a charging network, the Hainan provincial government said in a "Carbon Peak Implementation Plan."

The announcement comes as China struggles through its hottest, driest summer in decades, which has wilted crops and shrunk rivers and reservoirs used for generating hydropower.