General Motors is setting a worldwide target to end sales of gasoline and diesel powered cars and light trucks by 2035, the automaker said Thursday.

Why it matters: GM's plan marks one of the auto industry's most aggressive steps to transform their portfolio to electric models that currently represent a tiny fraction of overall sales.

• Transportation — including passenger cars but also trucking, aviation and other forms — is the largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and a huge source  worldwide.

The big picture: The 2035 "aspiration" would put GM on the same timeline with the state of California, and an identical or similar path t0 several countries with plans to phase out sales of internal-combustion vehicles.

How it works: The target to make all light-duty vehicles zero-emissions is part of a wider climate pledge GM unveiled Thursday. The company said it plans to become "carbon neutral" by 2040.

• CEO Mary Barra said Thursday that the target means "removing emissions from all our products, including every vehicle we produce, and all of our global operations in the next twenty years."
• "Where removing emissions is not possible — for example if the technology does not yet exist in those timeframes — we will compensate for those emissions through carbon credits or carbon capture," she said in a LinkedIn post.

By the numbers: GM said that tailpipe emissions account for 75% of its carbon footprint. The new pledge comes as the automaker has been speeding up rollout of new EVs, with a number of models hitting showrooms in the next several years.

The company plans to offer 30 all-electric models by the mid-2020s and says it's investing $27 billion over the next five years on electric and autonomous vehicle development.