On April 1, 2010, EPA and the Department of Transportation (“DOT”) released joint fuel economy and the first ever greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emission limits for 2012-2016 model year light-duty vehicles, mandating that those vehicles decrease CO2 emissions each year until they achieve a combined average of 250 grams of CO2 per mile for model year 2016 vehicles. 75 Fed. Reg. 25324. Under the new standards, vehicles may decrease their CO2 emissions either by improving fuel economy or by taking other GHG-reduction measures, such as cutting leaks of hydroflourocarbons (HFCs) from vehicle air conditioning systems. If all of the vehicles’ CO2reductions come from improved fuel economy, they would achieve an average fuel economy of 35.5 miles per gallon by model year 2016. EPA estimates that the new standards will decrease GHG emissions by approximately 960 million metrics tons over the lives of each of the covered 2012-2016 vehicles. The standards result from the May 2009 agreement among EPA, DOT, the state of California and other entities, discussed in the May 2009 issue of GE Climate Change EWS. The final standards were published in the May 7, 2010 issue of the Federal Register.
The final rule is available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-8159.pdf