Federal fuel economy standards have helped save Americans money on gasoline for 50 years while improving America’s air quality, energy security, and global competitiveness. In comments to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the Alliance expressed deep concerns over the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) proposal to substantially weaken fuel economy standards for light-duty vehicles under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program.
NHTSA’s flawed proposal would abandon decades of progress and leave Americans breathing dirtier air and paying more at the pump. The Alliance’s members are demonstrating through a suite of state-level policies and actions that we can lower fuel consumption and deliver cleaner air while also ensuring affordability, growing our economy, and creating good-paying jobs. It is a false choice to suggest the United States must sacrifice one of these goals to support another.
Read the Alliance’s full letter here.
Launched in 2017 by the governors of Washington, New York, and California to help fill the void left by the U.S. federal government’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the Alliance has grown to include 24 governors from across the U.S. representing approximately 60 percent of the U.S. economy and 55 percent of the U.S. population. Governors in the Alliance have pledged to collectively reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26-28 percent by 2025, 50-52 percent by 2030, and 61-66 percent by 2035, all below 2005 levels, and collectively achieve overall net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as practicable, and no later than 2050.
The Alliance’s states and territories continue to advance innovative and impactful climate solutions to grow the economy, create jobs, and protect public health, and have a long record of action and results. In fact, the latest data shows that as of 2023, the Alliance has reduced its collective net greenhouse gas emissions by 24 percent below 2005 levels, while increasing collective GDP by 34 percent, and is on track to meet its near-term climate goal of reducing collective greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
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