U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy recently finalized her decision to maintain the current greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for automotive model years 2022-2025 for cars and light trucks. The final determination reportedly finds that a variety of effective technologies are available to reduce GHG emissions from cars and light trucks, and that automakers are well-positioned to meet the standards through model year 2025 at lower costs than predicted.

“My decision rests on the technical record created by over eight years of research, hundreds of published reports including an independent review by the National Academy of Sciences, hundreds of stakeholder meetings, and multiple opportunities for the public and the industry to provide input,” said McCarthy. “At every step in the process, the analysis has shown that the greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and light trucks remain affordable and effective through 2025 and will save American drivers billions of dollars at the pump while protecting our health and the environment.”

The standards are projected to result in average fleet-wide consumer fuel economy sticker values of 36 miles per gallon (mpg) by model year 2025, 10 mpg higher than the current fleet average. Since the first year of the GHG standards, manufacturers have been developing and adopting fuel economy technologies, and the American car industry has been thriving. Since 2010, the industry reportedly has had seven consecutive years of sales growth, with 2016 setting a record high for vehicle sales.

The EPA is retaining the current standards to provide regulatory certainty for the auto industry despite a technical record that suggests the standards could be made more stringent. Retaining the current standards preserves the significant cuts in harmful carbon pollution expected from the original standards and provides regulatory certainty in a global industry that must meet similar standards in other markets, including Canada and Europe.

For more information, visit www.epa.gov.