California's Global Warming Vehicle Law

The Basics 

  • On July 22, 2002 California Governor Gray Davis signed into law AB 1493 (commonly known as the "Pavley law")—precedent-setting legislation to reduce global warming pollution from motor vehicles. 
  • This bill directed the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to develop and adopt regulations that achieve the maximum feasible and cost-effective reduction of global warming emissions from passenger cars and light trucks sold in California. 
  • Regulations were developed during 2004 through a series of public workshops and hearings, and were adopted unanimously by the California Air Resources Board on September 24, 2004. Regulations will apply only to 2009 and later model year vehicles and will require about a 30% reduction of global warming emissions by 2016.
  • California has unique authority under the Clean Air Act to establish standards for passenger vehicles.  While no other state has this authority, other states do have the option to adopt California's standards in place of federal standards.  To date, ten states have chosen to adopt California's standards.  This means that approximately one third of new vehicles sold in the United States will meet the most stringent standards for global warming emissions in the world starting in 2009.

Why is this historic? 

  • No other state or nation has previously adopted legislation specifically intended to cut motor vehicle pollution that causes global warming, despite the fact that motor vehicles are one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other global warming emissions. 
  • In the U.S. roughly one-third of all CO2 emissions come from transportation sources. That percentage is even higher in California, where 41 percent of CO2 emissions stem from the transportation sector. Moreover, transportation is growing more rapidly as a source of global warming emissions than other major sectors, both in the U.S., and globally.  
       
     


Why do we need to cut global warming emissions in California? 

  • Global warming is already occurring, and is expected to accelerate during the next few decades. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading scientific authority on global warming, predicts that average surface temperatures will increase between 3 and 10.5 degrees Fahrenheit during this century. 
  • In California global warming is expected to result in increasingly severe water shortages, longer and more intense heat waves, property damage from storm surges and rising sea levels, an increase in frequency and damage from wildfires, and more. Longer and more severe heat waves can also lead to an increase in urban and central valley smog-formation. Rising sea levels could also lead to destruction of freshwater marshes and other wetlands and cause saltwater intrusion on the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta, harming fish and wildlife. 
  • Climate change is also likely to negatively impact many important sectors of the California economy, including agriculture (especially the wine and nut industries), recreation (skiing, boating, fishing, river rafting, and other recreation), housing and other construction (because water shortages could limit new development), electric generation (from reduced hydroelectric power and increased air conditioning loads), and more. 
  • As the sixth largest economy in the world, California is itself the 12th largest source of global warming emissions world-wide, and has a responsibility to begin reducing these emissions as rapidly as possible. California has a history of leading the nation in reducing air pollution and protecting the environment. This effort to reduce global warming pollution continues that record of leadership.

    Automakers Sue to Block Regulations
  • The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, and some California dealerships filed suit against California on December 7, 2004 threatening to thwart California's and all states' rights to defend their people, natural resources, and economies from automotive air pollution.

    • In addition to suing California, the automakers have filed federal lawsuits in Vermont and Rhode Island, and state suits in Maine, and Oregon to block implementation of the standards.  In March 2006, the Oregon court found in the state's favor, but other suits are pending.  Oral arguments are scheduled to begin in California in early 2007.
  • Find out more by going to UCS's Automaker v. The People campaign and send a letter to the editor telling automakers to use their engineers, not their lawyers.
Last Revised: 04/22/05