Environmental Protection Agency Finalizes Federal Rule, Strengthening Clean Car Standards

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its final rule for federal clean car standards, which will curb emissions from the transportation sector and protect our health and our climate by strengthening the stringency for model years 2023 through 2026 for cars and light-duty trucks, including making important changes to improve on its initial proposal from August.

This final action follows months of advocacy from a diverse coalition of environmental, health, faith, and consumer organizations, after years of defending the Obama-era clean car standards from the previous administration’s rollbacks. In September, over 200,000 people urged the Biden administration to strengthen the proposed rule and drop automaker loopholes in the final rule in order to act on climate action, racial justice, and public health. Additionally, 21 state attorneys general, the District of Columbia, and six cities urged the EPA to strengthen its rule.

“We applaud the EPA for listening to the public and the climate science and acting swiftly to strengthen the federal clean car standards, our nation’s most powerful tool to slash emissions,” said Sierra Club President Ramón Cruz. “After a year marked by climate disasters that have ravaged communities across the country, from fires and extreme heat in the west, hurricanes and record low temperatures in the Gulf, and flooding in the east, it is more evident than ever that the impacts of the climate crisis are worsening. What we do now will have rippling effects for years to come. We urge the agency to get moving on the strongest possible long-term standards that rapidly accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles to protect the well-being of our communities by addressing the nation’s top source of pollution.”

“This rule will help tackle the climate crisis and reduce dangerous air pollution in our communities,” said Earthjustice President Abigail Dillen. “Now we need strong, long-term standards to ultimately electrify all new cars and light-duty trucks by 2035. We’ll continue to fight for standards that move us toward a zero-emissions transportation sector powered by 100% clean energy.”