In order to keep our air clean and our climate safe, we need to put vehicle greenhouse gas emission and fuel economy standards (clean car standards), in the fast lane, but Ford and Donald Trump are attempting to rollback vital climate and consumer protections. Transportation is the single largest and fastest growing source of emissions in the U.S. Our cars and pickup trucks account for 47 percent of oil used in the United States and nearly one third of our greenhouse gas emissions.
But for now, cleaner car standards are helping us drive away dangerous carbon pollution. In fact, these standards are the U.S.’s largest-ever effort to reduce climate pollution. By 2025, vehicle efficiency and clean car standards are expected to: nearly double vehicle efficiency; save 6 billion metric tons of dangerous climate pollution; and keep 12 billion barrels of oil in the ground.
While Ford, Volkswagen, and other major automakers stood by President Obama as he announced the standards five years ago, they’re now trying to roll back our single biggest defense against carbon pollution.
Ford may tout its commitments to sustainability and its investments in clean transportation, but behind closed doors, the auto company is lobbying the Trump administration to keep us locked into a dirty transportation system, worsening dangerous climate change and hastening its impacts. Joining Ford is scandal ridden Volkswagen. While publicly, Volkswagen is claiming to shift its focus to clean transportation and away from diesel gate, its diesel emissions scandal that pumped 20 coal plant’s worth of dangerous smog into our communities, behind the scenes the disgraced company is maneuvering with Trump and Ford to pump even more pollution into our communities, this time in the form of greenhouse gas emissions.
As soon as Trump took office, Ford and Volkswagen started going back on their word, calling on Trump and Pruitt to put the clean car standards in reverse. Earlier this year, Pruitt held a series of closed-door meetings with auto industry executives and lobbyists. A few months later, he announced that EPA would reopen and expand the scope of a review of the clean cars standards, with the likely intention of rolling them back. Duplicating the midterm review of carbon pollution standards is a waste of taxpayer money and a blatant attempt by the administration to rig the system for corporate polluters at the expense of hard-working American families.
A rollback might be what the auto industry lobbyists in Washington want, but it’s not what American families want. would be a catastrophe for American families – pumping a year's worth of climate pollution from 150 coal fired power plants into our communities.A Natural Resources Defense Council poll found that 95 percent of Americans want automakers to continue to improve fuel economy, and 79 percent want the government to increase standards. This will further contribute to climate change, which can worsen symptoms for the 24 million Americans – including 6.3 million children – who suffer from asthma.
Surveys show that Americans in auto industry heavy states like Michigan, Ohio and Indiana want cleaner cars. If Ford and Volkswagen are successful and Trump rolls back fuel efficiency standards, not only are Ford and Trump going against the wants of the American people, but they’re putting our health and safety at risk.
We need to strengthen cleaner car standards, not roll them back, to ensure clean air and a healthy climate for our families while creating more high-paying jobs for the next great generation. Tell ford to support strong clean car standards.