California Makes History with Clean Trucks Rule

June 25, 2020

by Patricio Portillo
NRDC Switchboard

In a groundbreaking win, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) unanimously adopted the world's first zero-emission commercial truck requirement, the Advanced Clean Trucks rule. The rule, which requires truck makers to sell an increasing number of clean, zero-emission trucks in California in place of dirty diesel and gasoline, will cut toxic fossil fuel emissions in polluted communities throughout the state.

Cleaning up truck emissions is long overdue for the communities near freeways, ports, and freight hubs that disproportionately suffer from harmful air pollution. Many of these communities, which are predominantly communities of color and low-income communities, have over 1,000 diesel trucks rumbling through per hour. As a result, residents suffer from high rates of asthma and elevated cancer risks, leading doctors to label these areas "diesel death zones." Further, preliminary research suggests that counties with higher long-term levels of air pollution also suffer higher COVID-19 death rates.

Thousands of NRDC members submitted public comments in favor of the rule, joining frontline communities, organized labor, public health advocates, the clean technology industry, and environmentalists to support the adoption of the rule. Many of these groups participated in CARB’s multi-year public process to carefully weigh the issues and design the standard.

The final rule will dramatically shift California’s medium- and heavy-duty truck market away from dirty fossil fuels to zero-emission technology. Beginning in 2024, manufacturers must increase their zero-emission truck sales to between 30-50 percent by 2030 and 40-75 percent by 2035.

The Board also directed CARB staff to determine how to transition California’s truck fleet to 100 percent zero-emission vehicles by 2045 with earlier targets for market segments such as drayage trucks, first- and last-mile delivery, garbage trucks, local buses, and utility and government vehicles ...

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