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Fighting Climate Change and Unhealthy Air, California Wants to Electrify Trucks, Too

Union of Concerned Scientists

California’s fleet of commercial trucks and buses is responsible for an outsized impact on air quality and climate change. Regulations like the ACF are critical to ensuring that we make the transition to electric at the speed necessary to address both climate change and equitable access to clean air.

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Diesel is the Reason for the Sneezin’: Cleaner Holiday Deliveries are on the Horizon

Union of Concerned Scientists

For example, home deliveries in some areas may cut climate-warming emissions compared to driving in a personal vehicle to purchase items in person. Even when accounting for pollution from electricity generation, electric trucks can significantly reduce air pollution and get us on a better track to addressing climate change.

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We Need an Agreement to Phase out Fossil Fuels at COP28

Union of Concerned Scientists

Beyond the climate harms of fossil fuels, they also impose a terrible toll on human health, as numerous recent studies show—including the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change , a BMJ study on global deaths from air pollution caused by fossil fuels, and a study on US deaths attributable to coal-fired electricity generation.

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Ask a Scientist: The US Has to Do More to Meet Its Carbon Emissions Reduction Goals

Union of Concerned Scientists

Last year, Congress passed the most ambitious climate bill ever enacted, the Inflation Reduction Act. The legislation committed nearly $400 billion to support, among other things, wind and solar power, battery storage, electric vehicles, and other clean energy technologies that will make a significant dent in US heat-trapping emissions.

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Are There Enough Materials to Manufacture All the Electric Vehicles Needed?  

Union of Concerned Scientists

The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is necessary to decrease climate-changing emissions. Research shows there are enough explored or prospective reserves to electrify the global transportation sector using current technology if a high amount of battery recycling occurs. The short answer is yes. Recycling has many benefits.

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EPA Grant Program Helps to Accelerate Transition to Cleaner Ports

Union of Concerned Scientists

The vehicles, vessels, and equipment that move our freight create hot spots of some of the worst air quality in the country and contribute significantly to climate change. The program is squarely focused on zero-emission equipment and projects – combustion technologies are explicitly ineligible.

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The State of the Air in 2024? Not Great

Union of Concerned Scientists

come from reactions of industrial pollutants (nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides) with sunlight and unfinished fuel combustion. Ozone is formed when nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) react in sunlight, and it is exacerbated under higher temperatures that make ozone pollution worse in the summer.

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