EDF celebrates announcement of new fuel efficiency and emissions standards for cars

(Washington, D.C. – August 28, 2012) – Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) joined businesses, health experts, national security groups and other environmental advocates today to celebrate the announcement of historic new fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions standards for American cars.
 
The standards will ensure that by 2025, new cars on U.S. roads will average an unprecedented 54.5 miles per gallon and will reduce the levels of dangerous climate pollution from auto emissions. 
 
“These new standards mean we’ll create the cars we need to reach a cleaner, safer, better future,” said EDF President Fred Krupp. “Under the new standards, we’ll get cleaner air and we’ll reduce our reliance on imported oil, and we’ll do it while we save Americans more than $8,000 at the gas pump.” 
 
The new standards will be formally unveiled early this afternoon in a joint news conference by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation.
 
The standards will apply to new cars and light trucks for model years 2017 to 2025. Those vehicles will have emissions protections and fuel economy performance comparable to 54.5 mpg fleet-wide by the final years of the program.
 
In other words, by model year 2025, we will almost double our current fuel economy performance for America’s fleet of new cars and other passenger vehicles.  
 
The Administration has already adopted the first-ever national standards for passenger vehicles (like cars, SUV’s and most pickup trucks) for model years 2012 to 2016. When combined with today’s newly announced standards, the benefits will be extensive.
 
By the year 2025, the standards for new cars (spanning model years 2012 to 2025) are projected to:

• Save American families more than $8,000 in fuel savings over the lifetime of a new vehicle
• Reduce oil consumption by more than 2 million barrels a day
• Reduce carbon dioxide pollution by more than 6 billion metric tons over the life of the program – more than the total emissions from the United States in 2010

The Administration has worked with states, businesses and the public to create these standards. They already have the support of automakers, small businesses, the United Auto Workers, American consumers, national security groups, economists, advocacy groups, and EDF together with many other environmental organizations.
 
You can find more about the benefits of the clean car standards to our public health, our national security and our environment on EDF’s website.