The rule was set up to "confront the increasingly urgent climate crisis," according to the executive summary, and was expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. This was part of a plan to reach "net-zero emissions by no later than 2050," according to a 2021 White House fact sheet.On Jan. 29, Duffy approved a proposal to rescind the rule. "The rescission reflects the Administration’s commitment to unleashing American energy and eliminating unlawful regulatory burdens," the DOT said in a Jan. 29 statement.
Duffy also issued a memorandum on Jan. 28 related to "fixing the CAFE program." The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) regulate the distance vehicles are required to travel per gallon of fuel. Duffy said that "artificially high" fuel economy standards imposed considerably large costs which rendered "many new vehicle models unaffordable for the average American family and small business owner."