US environment agency announces tightest-ever auto pollution rules

WASHINGTON (NYTIMES) - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday (Dec 20) announced strengthened limits on pollution from automobile tailpipes in a bid to reduce a major source of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that are heating the planet.

The more stringent rule - the most significant climate action taken to date by the Biden administration and highest level ever set for fuel economy - would require passenger vehicles to get an average of 55 miles per gallon (23.4km per litre) by 2026, from just under 38mpg today.

That would prevent the release of 3.1 billion tonnes of climate-warming CO2 through to 2050, according to the EPA. It would save about 360 billion gallons of petrol from being burned, leading to a 15 per cent annual reduction in the nation's petrol consumption by 2050. And motorists would save about US$1,080 (S$1,476) in fuel costs over the lifetime of more efficient vehicles, the agency estimated.

The administration of US President Joe Biden is expected to lean heavily on executive action and regulations like the new tailpipe rule after the centrepiece of the President's climate agenda, far-reaching legislation that would have transformed the energy and transportation sectors, was essentially scuttled on Sunday by Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who holds the swing vote in an evenly split Senate.

The tailpipe rule, which will take effect 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register and apply to model years 2023 to 2026, is a return of sorts to regulations enacted by the Obama administration in 2012, which required that passenger vehicles sold by automakers achieve an average of roughly 51mpg by 2025. Then US President Donald Trump weakened the standard last year to about 44mpg by 2026.

"We followed the science, we listened to stakeholders, and we are setting robust and rigorous standards that will aggressively reduce the pollution that is harming people and our planet - and save families money at the same time," EPA administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.

Transportation is the largest single source of greenhouse gases generated by the United States, representing 29 per cent of the nation's total emissions.

A recent report by the International Energy Agency found that nations would have to end the sale of new petrol-powered cars by 2035 to keep average global temperatures from increasing 1.5 deg C, compared with levels during the Industrial Revolution. That is the threshold beyond which scientists say the earth faces irreversible damage. The planet has already warmed an average of about 1.1 deg C since the late 1800s.

Climate experts said the new tailpipe rule is a first step in Mr Biden's push to rapidly shift American drivers from cars and lorries powered by the internal combustion engines of the last century to zero-emission electric vehicles (EVs).

The new Biden rule "is basically just recapturing the emissions cuts that we lost during the Trump rollback," said Mr Jeff Alson, a former EPA senior engineer and policy adviser who worked on the Obama auto emissions standards. "That's good, but it's not going to get us anywhere near the level we've got to get to reduce vehicle emissions enough to protect the planet."

About US$26 billion in tax incentives to speed up the adoption of EVs has been stuck in limbo on Capitol Hill, part of a larger US$2.2 trillion Bill, known as the Build Back Better Act that faces opposition from Mr Manchin. Among the Bill's provisions are a tax credit of US$7,500 for purchasers of EVs plus an additional incentive of US$4,500 if the vehicles are assembled by union workers.

Mr Biden has set a goal for EVs to make up 50 per cent of all new car sales by 2030 in order to slash planet-heating emissions and slow climate change. But electric cars are on track to total just 4 per cent of US sales this year, a hint of the scale of the challenge the President faces.

A significant step was taken last month, when Congress passed a US$1 trillion infrastructure Bill that included US$7.5 billion to build about 500,000 electric charging stations nationwide, plus another US$7.5 billion to help bolster supply chains needed to produce EVs. This month, Mr Biden signed an executive order requiring the federal government to purchase only zero-emission cars and trucks by 2035.

But more is needed to reach Mr Biden's goal, climate advocates say.

"The short-term rule that the President is announcing now isn't up to the challenge that he himself named, that global warming is an existential threat," said Mr Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign at the Centre for Biological Diversity. "What we really need is an aggressive rule as soon as possible to phase out the gasoline-powered vehicles that are guzzling and polluting and replace them with EVs that have no tailpipe."

So EPA officials are working on a future regulation for vehicles built in model year 2027 and beyond that would compel automakers to ramp up sales of EVs. They say they hope to publish a draft next year and to complete it before the end of Mr Biden's term.

Because tailpipe emissions rules pertain to the average mileage per gallon of all vehicles sold by a carmaker, stringent standards are designed to force auto companies to sell more electric cars to offset the sales of conventional pick-up trucks, sports utility vehicles and other models that get low mileage. The Ford F-150, for example, is the nation's most popular vehicle and gets only about 20mpg.

Some major automakers have publicly pledged to invest in EVs. GM has said it will go all electric by 2035. Ford has announced US$30 billion in investments in electrification and has said that it intends to sell only electric vehicles in leading markets like the US, China and Europe no later than 2035, and globally by 2040. Ford has built an electric version of the F-150; dealers will be taking orders beginning next month.

At the same time, automakers have said they need help from the government to ensure that consumers can buy and charge up their cars.

"EPA's final rule for greenhouse gas emissions is even more aggressive than originally proposed, requiring a substantial increase in EV sales, well above the 4 per cent of all light-duty sales today," Mr John Bozzella, president of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a lobbying group that represents the world's largest auto companies. "Achieving the goals of this final rule will undoubtedly require enactment of supportive governmental policies - including consumer incentives, substantial infrastructure growth, fleet requirements and support for US manufacturing and supply chain development."

General Motors on Monday issued a statement saying it "supports the goal of the final rule and its intention to significantly reduce emissions" but is still reviewing the details.

Ford said "we applaud EPA's efforts to strengthen greenhouse gas emissions standards and create a consistent national plan".

Stellantis, the company formed after the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot, called the new rule "aggressive" and said it underscored the need for the government to support a transition to zero-emitting vehicles.