WASHINGTON (July 25, 2019)—The California Air Resources Board (CARB) today announced a voluntary agreement with four major automakers—Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW. These companies, which represent 30 percent of auto sales, agreed to more stringent pollution standards than those being proposed by the Trump administration.
Below is a statement by Dave Cooke, senior vehicles analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
“While the Trump administration is determined to roll back successful clean car standards and deny drivers the choice of cleaner, more efficient cars in the years ahead, California has reached a voluntary agreement with some automakers to continue addressing global warming emissions from the transportation sector.
“With this agreement, the four automakers are admitting what we knew all along, that they can produce much more efficient cars and trucks. In addition, they are acknowledging California’s existing authority to set stringent standards. We strongly urge other automakers to make the same commitment to support California and the other clean car states in taking a leadership role while the federal government has been taking us backward.
“To be clear, while the agreement is a positive step forward compared to the Trump Administration’s proposed rollback, it does not provide the same consumer and pollution benefits as existing standards. The impacts of climate change are becoming more obvious every day. To tackle this issue head-on we need stronger national action that goes above and beyond this voluntary agreement.”