Successes
Recent successes in Clean Vehicles include:
Winning tough new fuel economy standards
Senate leaders credited UCS analysis as being instrumental in convincing Congress to substantially increase vehicle fuel economy for the first time in over 30 years. Our report Creating Jobs, Saving Energy, and Protecting the Environment and subsequent analysis demonstrated that the goal of a 35 miles-per-gallon U.S. average by 2020 is not merely feasible but will also create jobs in auto manufacturing states, reduce global warming pollution, and save more than 1.1 million barrels of oil per day in 2020—about half of what the United States currently imports from the Persian Gulf.
Defending California’s tailpipe emission standards
In a series of rulings, the Supreme Court and federal district courts upheld the authority of the states and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate global warming pollution from cars and trucks. These decisions lent support to California’s landmark tailpipe emissions standards, which have been adopted by 12 other states but require EPA approval to go into effect. To bolster the states’ case and draw media attention to the issue, UCS developed the Vanguard—a new minivan design that demonstrates how automakers can meet California’s standards using existing technology—and presented our findings in testimony to the EPA. Though the automakers were soundly defeated in court, the EPA failed to grant the necessary waiver. We are now working with the states to overturn this counterproductive and legally questionable decision.
Launching a campaign to promote "smart" bioenergy
Our report Biofuels: An Important Part of a Low-Carbon Diet explains the importance of ensuring that any expansion of the biofuels industry be accompanied by standards that reduce global warming emissions over a fuel’s entire life cycle and guard against potential damage to air, land, and water resources. Such a system would not only reinforce the benefits of biofuels compared with fossil fuels, but also demonstrate a qualitative difference between biofuels (e.g., cellulosic ethanol’s greater potential for reducing emissions compared with corn ethanol). California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which we helped pass in 2007, puts this policy into practice.
Holding automakers accountable for their environmental performance
Our biennial Automaker Rankings report has become an increasingly successful tool for educating the public about vehicles’ smog-forming and global warming pollution. The "greenest" automaker in the fourth installment of our rankings, Honda, trumpeted its achievement in ads while the dirtiest automaker, Chrysler, responded publicly—resulting in extensive media coverage of our report.
Securing a significant increase in funding for diesel cleanup programs
Building on years of work with a coalition of industry, public health, and school advocates, we succeeded in more than doubling appropriations for the federal Diesel Emission Reduction Act and Clean School Bus Program.
Winning passage of the first regulation targeting pollution from construction equipment
Our analysis of the consequences of diesel construction equipment on Californians’ health contributed to the passage of a strong rule governing these emissions. The new regulation will prevent 4,000 premature deaths by 2030 and serve as an important model for other states.
