US EPA's next clean car targets will attempt to catch up US fleet: McCarthy

The next round of US fuel economy rules will attempt to catch up the nation's auto fleet after Trump administration rollbacks but at a pace automakers can achieve, White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy said July 13.

"We've been working with California really closely to look at how we can make up for lost time at a pace that's reasonable, but also one that's going to allow us to be meeting some of the objectives that President Biden has put out there," McCarthy said at the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit.

"We are going to be looking at developing a rule that does catch up, developing a rule that goes further out and we are going to continue to talk to the car companies who themselves have said everywhere from 40% to 60%," in emissions cuts by 2035, she added.

McCarthy helped implement Obama administration fuel economy standards for light-duty cars and trucks as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2013 to 2017.

The Trump administration dismantled the policy and revoked California's waiver to set stricter targets.

In April, Biden's EPA took the first steps in overturning the Trump rollbacks, including announcing it would uphold states' rights to set tougher-than-federal rules.

The Trump administration's fuel economy targets for model years 2022-2025 would have increased US oil demand by an estimated 500,000 b/d. The battle over Trump's so-called Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles rule created massive uncertainty for automakers.

McCarthy said July 13 that automakers are strongly motivated to improve fuel efficiency and that the federal government should also make sure supply chains are in place to allow them to build new fleets in the US.