CHINA’S island province of Hainan will become the first to fully ban petrol and diesel cars.

Sale of such cars will be illegal by 2030 and tax breaks will encourage purchase of electric vehicles, which should already make up 45 per cent of cars on the island by then, provincial authorities announced in their Carbon Peak Implementation Plan.

China is already the world leader in electric vehicles, with an industry built up through heavy government subsidies since 2009 and automotive manufacturers required to meet escalating quotas of total output.

China accounted for more than half all electric vehicle sales last year.

China is on course to exceed its target of peak emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 thanks to state-directed investment in renewables.

Last year it generated over three times more energy from renewables than the United States, the world’s second-largest producer.