A huge climate achievement’: Virginia adopts Clean Car standards

Virginia will soon be for lovers of electric vehicles, too.

Mary Katherine Moore

Virginia will soon be for lovers of electric vehicles, too.

On Feb. 19, the Virginia Senate voted to establish a set of strong new clean car standards. One program, the Low Emissions Vehicle (LEV) rule, will set stricter limits on tailpipe emissions; another, the Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) rule, will expand the manufacture and sale of electric vehicles statewide.

“The program would bring clean vehicles to Virginia and significantly reduce carbon emissions,” Elly Boehmer, state director of Environment Virginia, said. “We thank Del. Lamont Bagby for championing this bill, and the Virginia General Assembly for advancing this critical climate bill to the Senate.”

Cleaner cars will be critical to slashing global warming pollution in Virginia, where transportation accounts for 48 percent of the state’s carbon emissions.

Read more about the commitment.

Learn more about our Destination: Zero Carbon campaign. 

Photo: Paired with a recently passed commitment to 100 percent renewable energy, expanding electric vehicles could sharply cut Virginia’s emissions. Credit: Virginia Department of Transportation via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Topics
Authors

Mary Katherine Moore

Find Out More