Sierra Club Reports Top 10 Things to Cheer for in Clean Transportation that occurred in 2019
1.Cities are demanding electric transit buses at a rate outpacing production. Electric buses have major climate and public health benefits -- and they save cities money on fuel costs. The number of electric buses on US roads has doubled in the last year, and at least a third of the nation's nearly 70,000 public buses will be all-electric by 2045 under current pledges -- not enough but a strong start. One highlight of 2019 was that Miami gave the green light for 33 electric buses, the largest purchase to date on the East Coast and the first substantial step toward achieving the county's commitment to cut bus-fleet emissions 50% by 2035. Also, electric-bus maker Proterra and its workers in California agreed to a unionization deal -- a great example of the new clean energy economy working for all.
2.This was the year serious investments in electric school bus deployment began. Over the summer, the California Energy Commission awarded nearly $70 million to schools to replace more than 200 diesel school buses with new, all-electric models. Virginia and Dominion Energy announced that $20 million from the Volkswagen settlement would go toward creating the nation's largest electric school bus fleet toward the goal of 1,000 electric school buses by 2025. Speaking of firsts, Los Angeles County United became the first school district in the nation to commit to all-electric school buses -- as well as 100% clean energy -- by 2040.
3.State leaders moved forward on climate action and clean cars in the face of federal attacks. In August, Colorado became the tenth state and the first Mountain West state to adopt the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) program. In September, the governors of both New Mexico and Minnesota announced that they intended to adopt stronger standards on tailpipe emissions and zero-emission vehicles; Nevada's governor followed suit in November.
4.Environmental organizations and states took the Trump administration to court to defend the Clean Car Standards. The Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Transit Safety Administration (NHTSA) spent the year pumping the brakes on clean cars and clean air, so the Sierra Club, clean car states, and allies sued both the EPA and NHTSA. Those suits are in progress, and other suits will soon follow. And companies like GM, Toyota, and Chrysler that sided with the Trump administration are being held accountable for their actions: The state of California announced that it will no longer purchase tens of thousands of vehicles from them. Make sure to check out this Rolling Stone story on the good work being done by environmental lawyers resisting the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda, featuring Joanne Spalding, one of Sierra Club's lead lawyers on the clean car standards suit.
5.The auto industry was exposed for its hypocrisy in claiming an interest in electric vehicles but barely trying to sell them, with 74% of dealerships not stocking a single EV. This year, the Sierra Club released the first-ever nationwide investigation into how automakers and dealerships are selling electric vehicles, showing that the auto industry has major room for improvement in advancing EV adoption and giving people the EV shopping experience they deserve. Clean transportation advocates are using the report to call attention to the importance of zero-emission vehicle programs.
6.There was progress on electrifying the medium- and heavy-duty vehicle sector. This month, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) signaled it will adopt the nation's first mandate for electric trucks next spring. A broad coalition of labor, environmental, and environmental justice groups are pressuring CARB to strengthen its proposed rule, which is expected to come to a vote in the spring of 2020. Around the same time, eight states announced they were signing an agreement to commit to getting hundreds of thousands more electric trucks on the road in the coming years.
7.A regional program to clean up transportation in the Northeast has begun to take shape. Advocates across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic helped to shape the draft policy for the Transportation and Climate Initiative, a promising regional cap-and-invest program for the transportation sector. This will lead to more investment in public transit, biking and walking programs, electric vehicle infrastructure, and other efforts that slash vehicle pollution. More on this in spring 2020 when a final policy agreement comes out!
8.The environmental footprint of ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft is being recognized by cities around the world. This year, the Sierra Club launched a campaign to get ride-hailing companies to clean up their act. In November, the campaign went global, adding European partners as new findings showed that Uber is adding to air pollution in already car-clogged European cities.
9.Across 24 states, more than three dozen electric utilities are investing more than $1.3 billion in charging infrastructure and related programs to support electric cars, trucks, and buses. A quarter of that investment is going toward improving access to clean transportation options and reducing tailpipe pollution in underserved communities -- and there's another $1.4 billion on the way. In this past year, programs were approved by regulators in Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Colorado, with more to come in those states as well as in Indiana, Ohio, New Mexico, and Arizona.
10. National Drive Electric Week keeps growing. In its ninth annual celebration, National Drive Electric Week resulted in more than 170,000 people attending 324 events across all 50 states and eight different countries, with thousands of test drives as well as media coverage that reached millions of people. NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton attended a NDEW event in San Diego and recorded a video about the need to electrify transportation as a "matter of survival."
Gina Coplon-Newfield is the director of the Sierra Club's Clean Transportation for All campaign.
