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France's environment minister Nicolas Hulot just announced an ambitious goal aimed at curbing climate change: Stopping the sale of all gasoline-or-diesel-powered cars by 2040. 。

On Thursday, Hulot -- a former nature documentary narrator in the vein of David Attenborough -- announced the government's plan, which still must go through several steps before it is enacted.  。

"We are announcing an end to the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040," Hulot said during the speech, according to France24.。

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The minister also announced plans to increase the government's investment in green and sustainable technologies in the coming years, France24 added. 。

Other countries like Germany are also hoping to scale down the use of gasoline-powered vehicles. Hulot's announcement comes just after Volvo unveiled its plan to end the production of cars that run only on combustion engines, starting in 2019. 。

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Via Giphy。

Hulot's plan to phase out sales of these cars isn't a done-deal, however. Thursday's event marked the rollout of the new government's clean energy agenda, but it still needs to be approved by the French Parliament before it can go into effect. 。

France's ambitious goals are part of an effort to meet the country's commitments to the Paris Climate Agreement, which went into force in 2016. That international agreement aims to limit human-caused global warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, above pre-industrial average through 2100.。

Increasing the use of electric vehicles worldwide could go a long way toward meeting that goal.。

A study published in June suggests that electric vehicles need to make up about 15 percent of new global car sales as part of a plan to avoid the worst effects of global climate change, such as sea level rise and deadly heat waves. At the moment, electric vehicle car sales account for 1 percent of global car sales.。

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Steven Jambot contributed to this report.
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Steven Jambot contributed to this report.。

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