A name familiar to clean-car advocates has reportedly made the short list to lead the Environmental Protection Agency for the incoming Biden administration. Mary Nichols, currently head of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), was one of the names recommended to the Biden campaign for the EPA administrator post during the last stages of the... Report: California clean cars crusader Mary Nichols on shortlist to be next EPA chief
A name familiar to clean-car advocates has reportedly made the short list to lead the Environmental Protection Agency for the incoming Biden administration. Mary Nichols, currently head of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), was one of the names recommended to the Biden campaign for the EPA administrator post during the last stages of the... 
Volvo and sibling brand Polestar announced Thursday that they would sell emissions credits to Ford, allowing the American automaker to comply with European Union carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions rules. Under the rules, automakers must meet certain emissions-reduction targets, but automakers who surpass those targets receive credits, which can be... 
California promises to sniff out automakers cheating on emissions. In a letter to manufacturers sent Wednesday—first reported by Reuters—California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) urged them to fess up about non-compliance and other emissions-related violations by the end of the year. Otherwise its new testing laboratory, to open... 
As it prepares to launch mass-market electric cars, Ford is touting its stance in favor of California's stricter emissions standards. Ford was the only United States automaker to commit to a voluntary deal to meet tougher California standards—something the automaker reiterated in a short video last week. For decades, California has held a... 
California's plan to ban sales of new gasoline cars in 2035 is already facing resistance from the federal government. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) boss Andrew Wheeler on Monday questioned the California plan in a letter, Reuters reported. The plan "raises serious questions regarding its legality and practicality," Wheeler reportedly... 
Polestar on Thursday said it would publish full details on the "climate impact" of its electric cars. The move "sets new standards for other car makers to follow," Polestar declared in a press release. Based on what Green Car Reports has seen released to consumers, that would indeed make it one of the first few automakers of any kind to do so... ![Tesla electric cars at Supercharger fast-charging site, TK [photo: Jay Lucas]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/tesla-electric-cars-at-supercharger-fast-charging-site-tk-photo-jay-lucas_100648832_t.gif)
For all the challenges Americans have faced in 2020, from the dangers of pollution during a lung-related pandemic to the smoky haze of forest fires in the West, this might prove to be the year in which a wider swath of the population became more aware about the dangers of air pollution And from that awareness, as a report released by the American... 
Uber wants its bread-and-butter ride-sharing service to be all-electric by 2030 in the United States, Canada, and Europe, the company announced Tuesday. Uber also plans to make every service on its platform zero-emissions by 2040, and to achieve net-zero carbon emissions from its corporate operations by 2030. The 2030 goal is dependent on working... 
Lifetime carbon emissions of electric cars are much lower than previously suggested, according to a new study from the Eindhoven University of Technology. First reported by Der Spiegel, the study also takes aim at previous studies claiming electric cars have higher overall emissions than internal-combustion vehicles. Factoring in emissions from... 
Over the past week, charging attempts for electric-vehicle drivers in California might have been thwarted—and everyday life interrupted—by rolling blackouts in some parts of the state. Those were due, governor Gavin Newsom said Monday, to some "gaps" in reliability amid the state's transition to renewable energy. The blackouts not only... 
The California Air Resources Board announced Monday that it has finalized five individual agreements with automakers pledging to adhere to annual reductions of passenger-vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. The terms, negotiated with BMW (including Rolls-Royce), Ford, Honda, Volvo, and Volkswagen Group (including Audi)—six automakers, as... ![The White House, Washington, D.C. [Creative Commons license by dcjohn]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/white-house_100170583_t.gif)
The Environmental Protection Agency's internal watchdog said Monday that it had opened an investigation into relaxed automotive emissions standards touted by the Trump Administration as a major victory for deregulation. The EPA inspector general said Monday that it would review the rule-making process to see if it met requirements for... 
Joe Biden announced a broad environmental plan Tuesday that includes provisions to broaden the federal electric-car tax credit and revive the "Cash for Clunkers" program. "Biden will restore the full electric vehicle tax credit to incentivize the purchase of these vehicles," a statement on the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's campaign... 
Nevada could be the next U.S. state to join California vehicle emissions standards, as opposed to the lax standards and lack of electric-vehicle targets recently enacted by the Trump EPA. On Monday, Nevada governor Steve Sisolak announced the Clean Cars Nevada initiative, which aims to adopt new regulations leading to an increase in the number of... 
Electric cars have been exempt from most attempts to regulate vehicular traffic in urban centers, but not a new London plan to create car-free zones. Cars—even those without tailpipes—will be banned from large areas of the British capital in order to create more space for pedestrians and cyclists, news network ITV reported Friday... 
Back in 2009, the $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program, or Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), offered $3,500 to $4,500 for older vehicles up to 25 years old regardless of the condition provided consumers replaced it with a new, more fuel-efficient one. With signals that the green-car sector in particular might be suffering at the start of the... ![Mulan wind farm [CREDIT: Global Climate Budget 2018]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/mulan-wind-farm-credit-global-climate-budget-2018_100682097_t.gif)
Decreases in overall energy demand resulting from the global coronavirus pandemic will hit fossil fuels hard, while driving a shift toward renewable energy, according to a report issued last Thursday. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that global energy demand will fall 6% in 2020—seven times the decline seen after the 2008... 
You know things are getting serious when oil companies move to reduce carbon emissions. Shell has joined BP in aiming to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Don't expect the company to get out of the oil business entirely, though. "Society's expectations have shifted quickly in the debate around climate change," a Shell press release said... 
In the battle between California and the Trump Administration over the state's right to set its own stricter emissions standards, General Motors sided with the President. That decision may be costing GM, according to a new poll. The majority of GM owners surveyed—regardless of party affiliation—oppose the automaker's stance on tougher... 
As the nation struggles to control a lung-related pandemic, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to merely stay the course on its standards for fine particulates, produced in significant amounts by vehicles and power plants. “Based on review of the scientific literature and recommendation from our independent science...