EPA Expected to Roll Back U.S. Emission Goals for CO2

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will relax or abandon carbon dioxide emission standards for 2022-2025 that were poised to push real-world fuel economy requirements to about 36 mpg, according to multiple media reports.

Those CO₂ targets were already reviewed and approved by EPA at the end of the Obama administration. But President Donald Trump ordered a new review a year ago. Regulatory rules require that the new assessment be completed by April 1.

EPA looks at CO₂ as a greenhouse gas whose emissions should be lowered. But CO₂ output also is directly related to fuel efficiency for vehicles that burn hydrocarbon fuels. Changes in CO₂ emission rules therefore affect fuel economy levels, which are regulated separately by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

NHTSA has indicated that on Friday it may announce its own proposed fuel economy levels for the 2022-2025 period.

Carmakers favor the regulatory reviews by both agencies. But they worry that the results could be a return to standards that sometimes conflict with each other.

Above all, car companies are eager for an outcome that dictates a single, coordinated set of emission and fuel economy targets for all 50 states. But that appears unlikely, even if EPA and NHTSA synchronize their regulatory rollbacks. That’s because the California Air Resources Board has vowed to press ahead with the original 2022-2025 standards regardless of what federal regulators decide.