This is Brian Lehrer's Daily Politics Podcast from WNYC Studios.

It's Thursday, June 30th.

I'm Arun Van deGalpal from the WNYC Newsroom, filling in for Brian Lererer, who's off today.

As we await the Supreme Court opinion on the EPA case here in the U.S., some good news,

it seems, from Europe.

On Wednesday, the 27 countries that comprise the EU, the European Union, have agreed to ban

fossil fuel cars by 2035.

The deal also includes funding to protect lower income citizens

from what's likely to result in higher CO2 costs. Transport and Environment, a leading clean

transport campaign group celebrated the deal with a statement that said, it's game over for

the internal combustion engine

in Europe. Joining me now to talk about the deal, what it might mean for the U.S., and also cover

some other climate topics in the news, is Bill McKibben, environmental activist, founder of

Third Act, and author of lots of books. Most recently, The Flag, the Cross, and the Station

Wagon. A graying American looks back at his suburban boyhood and wonders what the hell happened.

Welcome back to WNYC, Bill. Arun, good to be with you as always.

The decision, Bill, is going to effectively prohibit the sale of new cars powered by gas or diesel in the EU nations, according to Al Jazeera.

Climate change is obviously a global problem.

So how big of a deal is this proposal, in your opinion?

Well, in purely numerical terms, just, you know,

if all we did was put Europeans in electric cars, that wouldn't solve the climate problem.

And of course, no individual thing's ever going to solve the climate problem. It's the

...