The Climate Impact of the SAFE Vehicles Rule
What will freezing CAFE standards do to the environment?
Because CAFE [corporate average fuel economy] standards are based on vehicle footprints, the ultimate impact of the standards depends in large part on which types of cars people buy. That, in turn, depends on prices at the pump. Higher prices push consumers toward vehicles with a smaller footprint, increasing fleetwide average fuel economy. When prices are low, as they are today, Americans buy bigger cars …
