Revolutionizing our transportation systems is a crucial piece of Sierra Club's work to ensure we all can live in healthy communities, move around safely, and build a future powered by renewable energy.
Cleaning up our transportation sector means giving everyone the opportunity to get around in the way that works best for them and the planet. Together, we can tackle the climate crisis and protect the air we breathe by shifting to pollution-free electric vehicles, increasing accessible and affordable public transit, and making our communities safer for walking and biking.
Over the lifetime of the vehicle, a gas car puts out 4.5x more carbon pollution and infinitely more toxic tailpipe air pollution than an electric car.
We all want to breathe clean air and protect our families from toxic pollution and climate change. Unfortunately, transportation is currently our nation's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and a major source of air pollution. To build a livable future, we must shift away from combustion vehicles and towards clean transportation.
Right now, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress want to make it harder to drive clean cars, which will increase how much money you spend at the pump. We can stop them, but we need your help to protect clean transportation options.
$5B
61,000
public EV charging stations in the US
The Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign is at the forefront of advocating for EV-related utility policies that accelerate the EV transition and deliver on the promises of the clean energy economy: lower overall energy bills, more jobs, and cleaner air and water. Read more.
Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act -- the largest clean energy and climate legislation in history -- and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, cities and towns across the United States are getting funding to invest in clean transportation, including building more electric vehicle charging stations, transitioning public transit buses and school buses to zero-emission, and more.
As of now, the tax credits funded by the Inflation Reduction Act are still in effect, despite the best efforts of anti-environment politicians. These federal incentives can be used to purchase new or used electric vehicles, and can be combined with state, local, and utility provider incentives. These opportunities differ depending on where you live, so be sure to visit electricforall.org/rebates-incentives to learn exactly what’s available in your area.
Sierra Club North Star chapter with partners at a Minnesota House Hearing pushing for transit equity.
The Sierra Club is working across the country to make clean transportation options a reality. We're advocating for policies like clean car standards that have been passed in 13 states plus Washington, DC to cut pollution from our communities. And we're holding automakers accountable for offering more and affordable electric vehicles.
Going electric is just the start. In the shift to EVs, we should not replicate harmful practices in the mining industry. We're pushing automakers to respect human rights and radically transform their supply chains to be equitable, sustainable, and 100% fossil free.
We're also reducing our car dependence by advocating for reliable public transit, safe infrastructure for walking and biking, and more housing near where people work, learn, and play. This means urging local transit fleets to shift to electric buses. Cities like New York City, Washington, DC, and Albuquerque and many others are already leading the way!
Together, we can re-envision how we move around in a way that works for people and the planet.
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Take ActionBoston, MA - Today, a coalition of 17 states, D.C., and Quebec – working through the Multi-State Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Task Force facilitated by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) – released an action plan to curb pollution from trucks and buses. The action plan makes specific policy recommendations that these signatory states, jurisdictions, and utilities should adopt.
Boston — Today, the Massachusetts State Legislature passed ‘An Act driving clean energy and offshore wind,’ a climate bill that will expand clean energy, transportation electrification, and building decarbonization measures to create jobs and help reach statewide emissions reduction targets. The provisions in this bill will support much needed progress to reduce emissions 50% by 2030 as required by law. Governor Baker must now sign the bill into law by the end of the month.
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, after over a year of public pressure over the Postal Service’s decision to only make 10 percent of its new truck fleet electric, the agency announced it would commit to at least 40 percent of the fleet to be electric.
The bill aims to clean up the shipping industry, protect the health of port communities, address environmental injustice, and provide solutions to the climate crisis. If ocean shipping were a country, it would be the sixth largest producer of climate pollution globally.
Washington, DC - Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration proposed a rule that will require state Departments of Transportation and Metropolitan Planning Organizations to establish performance measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from their transportation plans and programs.
Ahead of Toyota’s Annual General Meeting, organizations call for NHTSA and EPA to investigate Hino, a subsidiary of Toyota, for emissions cheating in the US after cheating was found in Japanese trucks
Washington, DC - Today, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy proposed nationwide guidelines for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations that will be funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The guidelines aim to provide standardization for EV charging stations across the country, help EV drivers build confidence for traveling long distances, and ultimately accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles.
Washington, DC - Today, Ford and the United Auto Workers announced a $3.7 billion investment and the creation of more than 6,200 new union jobs to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) in facilities across Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio.
Today, the nation’s leading environmental organizations moved to intervene to defend the Biden administration’s rule, finalized in March, that reinstated California’s Clean Air Act waiver, allowing the state to set greenhouse gas standards more protective than federal standards and to adopt zero-emissions standards for light-duty cars.
FALLS CHURCH, VA - Today, at Meridian High School, the Biden-Harris administration will announce the Clean School Bus Program, which offers funding for school districts to move dirty diesel buses off their routes and transition to a cleaner school bus fleet. Currently, 95 percent of the nation’s school buses are diesel. Diesel exhaust is a known carcinogen and can lead to or worsen respiratory illnesses like asthma.
