Biden’s National Goal of a Zero-Emissions Freight Sector is a Momentous Step Towards an Electric Future

Today, the Biden administration announced a first-ever national goal to transition to a zero-emissions freight sector — covering truck, rail, aviation, and marine traffic  — and pledged to develop a whole-of-government freight strategy to get there. This marks a critical step forward to clean our air throughout the United States, especially in communities who live in the shadow of ports, railyards, mega-warehouses, and freight routes and bear the brunt of freight pollution and its health impacts. The White House’s announcement comes after a call from environmental justice groups with the Moving Forward Network for a meaningful plan to get to zero emissions in our freight sector.

“The future is electric for how we move goods across this country. We’re incredibly excited to see this commitment from the Biden Administration to modernize our freight sector with a whole-of-government approach to get to zero emissions,” said Athena Motavvef, legislative representative at Earthjustice on the Right To Zero campaign. “It’s time to lift the burdens of diesel pollution from communities living in the shadow of railyards, ports, mega-warehouses, and freeways with zero-emissions solutions.”

(Hannah Rothstein for Earthjustice)

The announcement came alongside a nearly $1 billion Inflation Reduction Act funding opportunity through EPA for cities, states, and Tribes to electrify class 6 and 7 heavy duty vehicles (namely, school buses, refuse trucks, delivery trucks, and some port trucks), as well as $400 million from the Department of Transportation to reduce trucks emissions in port communities, and a $72 million investment from the Department of Energy in truck charging infrastructure.