The Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency, said negotiators from member states, the European Parliament and the European Commission have agreed that automakers must achieve a 100 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2035. This would effectively ban the sale of new cars and vans running on gasoline or diesel fuel in the 27 EU countries.

The ban is part of an EU climate change package, which aims to reduce climate-damaging emissions by 55 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels and achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

Cars currently account for 12 percent of all CO2 emissions in the EU bloc, while transportation as a whole accounts for about a quarter.