DOT finalizes rule requiring states to track vehicle CO2

Biden administration moves forward despite lack of consensus from state DOTs

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has finalized a rule requiring each state to track and monitor greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles despite opposition from some states and road and bridge builders.

The new rule, which generated close to 40,000 comments after it was formally proposed in a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) last year, requires each state’s department of transportation to establish declining carbon dioxide targets — using fuel sales, fuel efficiency and vehicles-miles-traveled data — and report on their progress.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), which issued the rule, established 2022 as the reference year by which targets will be measured.

The rule does not mandate how low targets must be in each state. Instead, according to the rule, each state may set targets “that are appropriate for their communities and that work for their respective climate change and other policy priorities, as long as the targets aim to reduce emissions over time.” It also does not impose penalties on a state for failing to meet its GHG targets.

The rule supports the Biden administration’s goal of cutting carbon pollution in half by 2030, and net-zero emissions by 2050.

“Every state has its own unique climate challenges, and every state ought to have the data, funding, and flexibility it needs to meet those challenges head on,” commented U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, unveiling the final rule on Wednesday.

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