The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued final national pollution standards for light-duty trucks, medium-duty vehicles and passenger cars for model years 2027 through 2032 and beyond. These standards will avoid more than 7 billion tons of carbon emissions and provide nearly $100 billion of annual net benefits to society, including $13 billion of annual public health benefits due to improved air quality, and $62 billion in reduced annual fuel costs, and maintenance and repair costs for drivers.
Delivering on the pollution reductions outlined in the proposed rule, the final standards accelerate the adoption of cleaner vehicle technologies. EPA is finalizing this rule as sales of clean vehicles, including plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles, hit record highs in 2023.
EPA projects an increase in U.S. auto manufacturing employment in response to these final standards, consistent with the broader Biden-Harris administration commitment to create good-paying, union jobs leading the clean vehicle future. Since President Biden took office, companies have reported more than $160 billion in investment in U.S. clean vehicle manufacturing, and the U.S. auto manufacturing sector has added more than 100,000 jobs.
“With transportation as the largest source of U.S. climate emissions, these strongest-ever pollution standards for cars solidify America’s leadership in building a clean transportation future and creating good-paying American jobs, all while advancing President Biden’s historic climate agenda,” says EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “The standards will slash over 7 billion tons of climate pollution, improve air quality in overburdened communities and give drivers more clean vehicle choices while saving them money.”
“President Biden is investing in America, in our workers and in the unions that built our middle class and established the U.S. auto sector as a leader in the world,” adds Ali Zaidi, Biden’s National Climate Advisor. “The president’s agenda is working. On factory floors across the nation, our autoworkers are making cars and trucks that give American drivers a choice — a way to get from point A to point B without having to fuel up at a gas station. From plug-in hybrids to fuel cells to fully electric, drivers have more choices today. Since 2021, sales of these vehicles have quadrupled, and prices continue to come down.”
The new final standards, the “Multi Pollutant Emissions Standards for Model Years 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles,” build on EPA’s existing emissions standards for light trucks and passenger cars with model years 2023 through 2026. The standards continue the technology-neutral and performance-based design of previous EPA standards for cars, pickups and vans, and leverage advances in clean car technologies to further reduce climate pollution and smog- and soot-forming emissions. EPA is finalizing the same standard proposed for model year 2032 while allowing more time for the auto sector to scale up clean vehicle manufacturing supply chains in the first three years covered by the rule.
Annually, the net benefits to society for the light- and medium-duty final rule are estimated to be $99 billion. The final rule is expected to avoid 7.2 billion tons of CO2 emissions through 2055, roughly equal to four times the emissions of the entire transportation sector in 2021. It will also reduce fine particulate matter and ozone, preventing up to 2,500 premature deaths in 2055 as well as reducing heart attacks, respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, aggravated asthma and decreased lung function.
EPA received extensive feedback on the proposed rule, including through written comments, testimony at public hearings and other stakeholder engagements. The final standards were informed by the best available data in the public record and rigorous technical assessments. Like the proposal, EPA’s final rule gives manufacturers the flexibility to efficiently reduce emissions and meet performance-based standards through the mix of technologies they decide is best for them and their customers.
Compared with the existing model year 2026 standards, the final model year 2032 standards represent a nearly 50% reduction in projected fleet average greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions levels for light-duty vehicles and 44% reductions for medium-duty vehicles. In addition, the standards are expected to reduce emissions of health-harming fine particulate matter from gasoline-powered vehicles by over 95%.
Learn more information about the final rule.
