Epa’s Hard-fought Climate Rule For Cars Expected Next Week

The Biden administration is expected to unveil the final version of one of its most pivotal climate rules next week — a clean car rule that could result in two-thirds of new passenger vehicles sold in 2032 running on electricity.

The Environmental Protection Agency has invited environmental and public health groups to an event Wednesday with Administrator Michael Regan to announce the regulation, according to three people with knowledge of the agency’s timing, who were granted anonymity to discuss the still-unpublicized action.

The announcement concerns “EPA’s work to address climate change, improve air quality and protect public health,” according to the invite, which POLITICO’s E&E News reviewed.

The regulation on passenger cars and light trucks, first announced last spring, is a cornerstone of the Biden administration’s campaign to address climate change. Transportation is the nation’s biggest source of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, and passenger cars and trucks account for most of those emissions.

The rule would require carmakers to cut their average emissions of carbon dioxide 52 percent between 2027 and 2032. EPA projects that the standard would push the car industry to ensure that electric cars and light trucks make up about 67 percent of new vehicles by model year 2032.

A separate climate rule for heavy-duty trucks is expected to be announced later.

Finishing the rules in the next two months could be critical to insulating them from rollbacks by a potential second Trump administration. Former President Donald Trump has vowed to reverse Biden's major climate initiatives, directing special ire at what he calls the administration's "All Electric Car Lunacy."

E&E News and other outlets reported last month that EPA’s final passenger car rule would offer automakers more time to scale up the share of their fleet that runs on batteries compared with last year’s proposed rule. The change came after intense lobbying from U.S. car manufacturers and as President Joe Biden looks to shore up support from autoworkers in states like Michigan ahead of this year’s presidential election.

Those changes track with an alternative regulatory optionthat EPA explored in last year’s draft that ratchets down emissions limits evenly rather than front-loading them in early years.

Environmentalists at the time mostly shrugged at the prospect of EPA preparing to finalize a rule that would give car companies more time to go electric — potentially creating room for more gas- and diesel-powered cars to be sold through the late 2020s.

Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, told reporters at a briefing Thursday morning that the anticipated final rule would still deliver 95 percent of the draft’s greenhouse gas emission cuts.

“So let's be clear that it's a very, very modest change in carbon pollution,” he said.

Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, created billions of dollars in tax incentives for the car industry to build new battery plants and provide tax breaks up to $7,500 for some electric cars and trucks. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law created billions of dollars more to pay for a network of electric vehicle chargers.

In addition to carbon emissions, the rule also tackles ozone-forming emissions and toxics from passenger cars built in model year 2027 through 2032.