Finalized in March 2024, the strengthened clean car standards target passenger cars and trucks rolling out between 2027 and 2032. But how automakers meet the EPA’s lower emissions requirements is up to them—i.e., they can use any combination of approaches. For example, they can improve the performance of their internal combustion engine vehicles, adopt advanced transmission technologies, or use more lightweight materials. Alternatively, they can sell more hybrid and electric cars.
The rules are expected to curb carbon pollution by more than seven billion metric tons by 2055—more than the annual greenhouse gas emissions of the entire United States. And they’d reduce particulate matter from gas-powered cars and trucks by more than 95 percent.
By undoing these policies, we’d be letting go of our chance to stem the worst impacts of our climate crisis. It would also derail business—specifically, the rollback would stunt our country’s burgeoning EV industry at exactly the moment we need it to grow if we care to compete internationally. “We want to be at the forefront and make sure that those economic opportunities are here in the United States,” says Kathy Harris, the director of NRDC’s Clean Vehicles program. “The question really is, does the United States get left behind, or are we a leader in this transition?”
The potential for the country’s EV industry is only growing. Since 2007, the United States has added nearly a quarter of a million domestic EV manufacturing jobs, according to data from the BlueGreen Alliance Foundation. And while China continues to dominate the EV market globally, the United States now leads in terms of attracting the most EV investments, with a planned $312 billion going toward the manufacturing of the vehicles and their batteries as of 2024.
This economic potential is why both labor unions and automakers, which have already invested billions toward compliance, back the strengthened standards. In a statement earlier this year, the United Auto Workers union said that its members “reject the fearmongering that says tackling the climate crisis must come at the cost of union jobs. Ambitious and achievable regulations can support both.”
Individual drivers, too, could save up to $6,000 over the life of their vehicles, thanks to reduced fuel and maintenance costs. But there’s little certainty that the market’s U.S. growth can withstand the rollbacks. “There’s a lot to be lost if those investments don’t come to fruition,” Harris says.
