Republican Gov. Phil Scott is hitting the brakes on a policy that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from a transportation sector that causes the lion’s share of carbon pollution in Vermont.
In 2022, Vermont signed on to a California-based rule that requires 35% of all vehicles delivered to car dealers to be zero emission, starting in model year 2026. On Wednesday, however, Scott issued an executive order that effectively halts that rule by directing state enforcement agencies not to issue fines or other penalties for noncompliance.
“I continue to believe we should be incentivizing Vermonters to transition to cleaner energy options like electric vehicles,” Scott said in a written statement. “However, we have to be realistic about a pace that’s achievable. It’s clear we don’t have anywhere near enough charging infrastructure, and insufficient technological advances in heavy-duty vehicles, to meet current goals.”
The order also postpones Vermont’s compliance with another California rule that creates zero-emission mandates for heavy duty trucks. Seventeen states have adopted the California standards.
Climate advocates such as Ben Walsh, with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, say the so-called clean car and clean truck mandates represent one of the most significant emissions-reductions policies Vermont has adopted in recent years. Walsh said the governor’s executive order, which postpones compliance until at least 2027, is a major setback for Vermont’s broader climate goals.
“Without an assurance that manufacturers are actually going to deliver electric vehicles to Vermont and Vermonters, there simply isn’t any way that we can get where we need to go on reducing climate pollution here in Vermont,” Walsh said Wednesday.
Robb Kidd, Vermont conservation program director for the Sierra Club, said his organization was “dismayed” by the governor’s order.
“Gov. Scott is leaving Vermonters vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution and continues to trap Vermonters in polluting and costly fossil fuels,” Kidd said.
Gov. Scott is leaving Vermonters vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution and continues to trap Vermonters in polluting and costly fossil fuels.Robb Kidd, Sierra Club
Vermont’s auto dealers, meanwhile, welcomed news of the executive order. The California rule doesn’t obligate local dealers to sell a certain percentage of electric vehicles, rather it requires car and truck manufacturers to, starting in model year 2026, ensure that 35% of vehicles shipped to those dealers be zero emissions.
Matt Cota, with the Vermont Vehicle and Automotive Distributors Association, said that demand for those EVs doesn’t yet exist in Vermont (about 14% of new cars registered in Vermont last year were zero emission).
Cota said manufacturers would likely comply with the mandate by sending fewer total vehicles to Vermont dealers. And he said dealers in New Hampshire, which has not adopted the California rule, will be well-positioned to satisfy demand for gas-powered vehicles that are no longer delivered to Vermont.
“In a way, if you don’t create the demand of electric vehicles, all you’re doing with this regulation — you’re not putting more electric vehicles on the road, you’re harming the local businesses that sell vehicles of all types,” Cota said.
