EPA tailpipe regulations What it means for investors

News Summary

  • States’ attorneys general and future administrations might try to sue or scale them back, but well-written, already implemented regulations are much harder to overturn.The EPA was no doubt emboldened by actions taken in recent years by states and other countries to ban fossil fuel vehicles in the not-so-distant future.
  • Just the light-duty emissions limits alone will slash 15.5% of U.S. carbon pollution, the EPA estimates.The new regulations set targets that are significantly more stringent than those put forth in Biden’s 2021 executive order, which calls for 50% of light-duty vehicles to be electric by 2030.
  • The regulations are technology agnostic, meaning that green hydrogen vehicles would qualify, but in reality, the vast majority of those sales will be battery-powered.The climate impacts promise to be significant.
  • By 2032, two-thirds of car and light truck sales will have to be zero emitting along with 46% of medium-duty vehicles like delivery vans, half of all buses, and one-quarter of all heavy-duty trucks.
  • By 2035, polluting light-duty vehicles will be banned in several U.S. states and at least 20 countries, representing 25% of worldwide light-duty vehicle sales.
  • EPA regulations, though, are harder to roll back once they’ve been implemented.
If there was any question as to whether the Biden administration is serious about the electrification of the U.S. economy, this weeks announcement of new automotive emissions regulations should put t [+1900 chars]