My Climate Change News

Last week, the Biden Administration finalized the newest, and strongest, set of vehicle emissions standards for new passenger cars and trucks. These new rules apply to all auto manufacturers and only affect new vehicle sales. They will go into effect in model year 2027 and steadily increase in stringency through model year 2032. Here’s what you need to know:

Transportation is the largest source of climate emissions in the US (29 percent) and passenger cars and trucks account for the majority of this pollution. These new rules represent the largest climate regulatory action ever adopted by EPA and are expected to reduce more than seven billion tons of climate emissions. That’s the equivalent of four years’ worth of climate pollution from today’s entire US transportation sector.

The new standards apply to both light duty passenger cars and trucks as well as medium-duty vehicles (which include larger pick-ups like the Ford F-250 and vans between 8,501 to 14,000 pounds gross vehicle weight). By 2032, new light-duty vehicle climate emissions would decrease by nearly 50 percent (to 85 grams/mile) compared to existing standards that go through 2026. Medium-duty vehicle climate emissions would drop about 44 percent (to 274 grams/mile).

But climate pollution isn’t the only thing coming out of tailpipes that’s harming us, and the impact of these tailpipe emissions isn’t equally shared. These new standards take another leap forward in reducing the toxic pollution from burning gasoline in our vehicles. For example, by 2031, new gasoline passenger vehicles will be required to cut particulate matter (PM)emissions by more than 80 percent most likely resulting in the use of gasoline particulate filters which can remove even the smallest ultrafine particles that are most harmful to breathe. This is a common sense step that relies on affordable, proven technology already in use in millions of gasoline vehicles outside the US.

The overall...