Deal between automakers and California on emission standards demonstrates how unreasonable the proposed rollback is, and what reasonable compromise could look like

25 July 2019, Washington DC—The ICCT welcomes the agreement on light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards announced today between California and four major automakers—BMW, Ford, Honda, Volkswagen—as a constructive step forward on public policy to confront the urgent problem of climate change and preserve the benefits that accrue to American consumers from a cleaner and more efficient vehicle fleet.

The agreement shows substantial concessions from regulators are possible to meet the auto industry’s requests for “relief” on certain aspects of the Obama administration’s vehicle CO2 emission regulations. We have explained at length and in detail that in our estimation those standards remain in fact achievable, feasible, practical, beneficial to the public, and overwhelmingly necessary to the environment:

• Analysis of the technical feasibility originally adopted 2025 standards
• Public comments on the Trump administration proposed rollback
• Report on the benefit-cost analysis of the original and proposed rolled-back standards

Nevertheless, we welcome this pragmatic agreement as one that definitively affirms the goal of immediate, real progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. It is an encouraging signal that rational public policy making remains possible, and we hope that other automakers, and the Trump administration, will acknowledge the realism embodied in this agreement and join it.