What happened
The Environmental Protection Agency released tailpipe emissions standards Wednesday that will sharply reduce greenhouse gases and other airborne pollutants. The final Clear Cars rule has a slower rollout than standards proposed last year but ends at President Joe Biden’s same goal: a 50% cut in vehicle carbon emissions by 2032.
Who said what
“We’ll meet my goal” of “half of all new cars and trucks sold in 2030” being zero-emission, then “race forward in the years ahead,” Biden said. “The future is electric,” but “pace matters” and “these adjusted EV targets — still a stretch goal — should give the market and supply chains a chance to catch up,” said Alliance for Automotive Innovation chief John Bozella. “We’ll do everything we can to stop the rule,” American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers said.
This commentary
“This is one of the biggest pieces of climate regulation in history,” so of course “it’s going to have opponents,” said Chris Harto at Consumer Reports. This “incremental move” is still “too weak and slow,” the Los Angeles Times said in an editorial. “We’re in the race of our lifetime against climate change and President Biden is driving way below the speed limit.”
What next?
The Clean Cars standards start with 2027 models. Oil trade groups and Republican officials said they will sue to overturn the rule, and former President Donald Trump said he will try to reverse it if elected.