National Plan Aims to Eliminate Transportation Emissions | Article

In January 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration released an interagency blueprint for reducing emissions from the U.S. transportation sector.
The U.S. transportation sector is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than any other U.S. sector.
The blueprint builds upon existing federal investments and initiatives to cut “nearly all” transportation emissions by 2050.

On January 10, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration released the first-ever plan for driving down greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. transportation sector. From cars to buses to planes, transportation is the largest source of emissions in the United States, accounting for a third of its emissions. The U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization outlines an ambitious national strategy for cutting nearly all emissions from the nation’s transportation systems by 2050.

In September 2022, the Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Housing and Urban Development signed a memorandum of understanding recognizing “the critical role that the transportation sector will play in addressing the global climate crisis and building a clean economy” and pledged to work together to realize a clean transportation system. The blueprint was crafted to guide this collaboration, in addition to transportation policy and research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) of emerging clean transportation solutions.

The blueprint outlines three strategies for reducing transportation emissions: increasing convenience, improving efficiency, and transitioning to clean options. To increase convenience, the plan states that community design solutions and land-use planning can be implemented to reduce emissions. For example, strategically locating essential services near where people live can reduce travel distances, and thus emissions.

The three strategies outlined in the blueprint for reducing transportation emissions. Source: U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization

The second strategy is to shift to lower-emission and more efficient passenger and freight transportation options. For instance, walking, cycling, and taking public transportation result in far fewer emissions than driving a light-duty truck. In addition, embracing other alternative transportation modes and solutions like ride pooling, vehicle sharing, removing parking minimums for new construction, and improving freight logistics can also reduce emissions. Prioritizing and making these more efficient modes of transportation more accessible and safer is a key part of addressing transportation emissions and improving quality of life.

A comparison of greenhouse gas emissions by mode of transportation. Source: U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization

The final strategy is rapidly deploying zero-emission vehicles and fuels. The blueprint explains that “the cornerstone of this new transportation paradigm will be highly efficient zero-emission EVs [electric vehicles] that can leverage clean electricity while also supporting the decarbonization of the power sector.” According to the blueprint, scaling up clean technologies such as batteries, hydrogen, and sustainable liquid fuels will have emission reduction benefits beyond transportation. These technologies can also be used to build clean industrial and energy sectors, but they require investments in research, supply chains, and infrastructure, especially during this decade, to become more widely adopted. In addition, achieving the Biden-Harris Administration’s target of 100 percent clean electricity by 2035 will complement efforts to reduce transportation emissions.

A key goal throughout these strategies is to create a more equitable and affordable transportation system. The blueprint emphasizes partnerships with regional, state, local, and tribal governments, as well as the private sector, to improve transportation planning and make active and public transportation more accessible and affordable. By shifting away from fossil fuel-based transportation, these three strategies also aim to advance environmental justice by reducing toxic air pollutants, which disproportionately impact communities overburdened with multiple sources of pollution.

The blueprint outlines plans for applying these strategies to seven transportation areas: light-duty vehicles, medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses, off-road vehicles and mobile equipment, rail, maritime vessels, aviation, and pipelines. These recommendations are intended to be rolled out based on the milestones the blueprint sets for each decade between now and 2050. The period before 2030 is focused on researching and investing in clean transportation; 2030 to 2040 is focused on scaling up the deployment of clean transportation solutions; and 2040 to 2050 is focused on ensuring equality in the transition to a net-zero transportation system.

The 117th Congress provided massive investments to clean transportation through the passage of the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA) (P.L. 117-58) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) (P.L. 117-169). Many of these investments build on each other to address the climate crisis. For example, the IRA establishes a tax credit of $7,500 for new and $4,000 for used electric vehicles. While this investment will help drive the adoption of electric vehicles, the IIJA makes crucial investments—worth $7.5 billion—to build out electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Additionally, the IIJA and IRA include numerous investments in decarbonizing other modes of transportation, including aviation (through sustainable aviation fuels), rail, and school buses (by funding electric buses). The CHIPS and Science Act (P.L. 117-167), also passed during the 117th Congress, authorized initiatives that will further build on these investments to bolster RDD&D of emerging climate technologies and solutions.

A key tenet of the blueprint from now to 2030 is to maximize the impact of IIJA and IRA investments. Implementing the research and innovation elements of the IIJA, IRA, and CHIPS and Science Act will help reduce costs and establish a domestic supply chain for electric vehicles, batteries, and chargers.

The blueprint also builds upon a number of other existing federal plans and commitments. For reducing aviation emissions, the United States 2021 Aviation Climate Action Plan lays out the federal government’s approach to achieving net-zero aviation emissions by 2050. Similarly, the National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries sets out the national strategy for building a domestic supply chain for lithium batteries, a key component of electric vehicles.

Tackling emissions from the transportation sector is crucial for advancing a clean economy that works for all. Building a clean transportation system will require collaboration between all levels of government as well as the private sector to change how we commute, travel, and live. The blueprint provides an interagency and sector-specific framework for accomplishing that goal, and paves the way for addressing emissions from the largest domestic contributor to the climate crisis.

Author: Savannah Bertrand