The EPA announced it is repealing an Obama-era policy aimed at addressing greenhouse gas emissions, and also moved to eliminate automatic stop-start systems.
On Thursday, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin announced massive deregulation surrounding vehicle emissions, eliminating the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, as well as “off-cycle credits” and automatic stop-start systems in cars and trucks, the latter technology being historically unpopular among consumers.
The 2009 Endangerment Finding, signed under Obama-era EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson, noted then-current levels and projections of six key greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexaflouride (SF6), undermined public health and welfare of future generations. In this latest announcement, current administrator Zeldin says the Trump administration is “returning commonsense to policy, delivering consumer choise to Americans and advancing the American Dream.”
Thursday’s announcement is the latest in a wake of reversals on environmental policy, following comments in May and July 2025 that proposed scrapping fuel economy standards, getting rid of the consequences for diesel trucks running out of Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF), and now eliminating automatic stop-start systems.
To-date, those systems were never mandated by the U.S. government. Rather, most automakers would fit them in pursuit of the earlier mentioned off-cycle credits — regulatory incentives granted to automakers for implementing technology aimed at curbing CO2 emissions in real-world driving situations. Those selfsame manufacturers fit buttons that allow drivers to override the system, while some aftermarket solutions effectively eliminated the auto stop-start altogether during and between driving cycles.
The EPA claims this move to eliminate the Endangerment Finding, deregulating emissions and getting rid of off-cycle credits and automatic stop-start systems will eliminate “hidden costs” from new automobiles, saving consumers more than $1.3 trillion over the coming years in the process by removing regulatory requirements to measure, certify and comply with greenhouse gas emissions standards between 2012 and 2027 and beyond.
In the short-term, this announcement may not manifest major changes in the industry. Over time, however, we will invariably see an impact as automakers begin putting this deregulation into practice — and parties against the decision mount legal action against the Trump administration for these latest efforts as it continues to roll back earlier EPA standards.
