Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Thursday establishing the goal of making half of all new vehicles sold in the United States zero emissions—either hybrid or fully electric—by 2030, according to the White House.
Biden’s executive order will also set a new schedule for the development of new long-term fuel efficiency and emissions standards to tackle pollution and other objectives, the White House said in a release.
There is also action on near-term fuel efficiency and emissions standards, with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expected to propose revisions to President Donald Trump’s rollback of such standards. Trump in March 2020 ordered a reduction in annual increases in efficiency to 1.5 percent per year through 2026, down from the 5 percent annual boosts set in 2012 by President Barack Obama’s administration.
“The two agencies are advancing smart fuel efficiency and emissions standards that would deliver around $140 billion in net benefits over the life of the standards, including asthma attacks avoided and lives saved, save about 200 billion gallons of gasoline, and reduce around two billion metric tons of carbon pollution,” the White House stated. “For the average consumer, this means net savings of up to $900 over the life of the vehicle from fuel savings.”