Environmental leaders urge White House to finalize pending efficiency standards

On Monday, Environment America delivered the White Hosue a letter signed by the executive directors of a number of national environmental organizations thanking the administration for its work to date to advance energy efficiency standards and to urge the White House to get the job done by finalizing a suite of pending standards.

The Department of Energy projected last year that actions it would take to improve the energy efficiency of appliances this term would cut climate change emissions by 2.5 billion metric tons and save consumers nearly $1 trillion over 30 years. The Department has made tremendous progress—standards already completed this term will reduce emissions by 2.1 billion metric tons, roughly 85% of the pollution reduction projection that DOE set for itself. These same standards will also save a typical U.S. household $107 each year over the next two decades. 

Now, energy efficiency standards for 12 additional products have been proposed by the Department of Energy and 8 are currently under review at the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. These standards, if finalized at the proposed levels, would cumulatively avoid more than 850 million metric tons of global warming pollution over thirty years—more than enough to hit the pollution reduction projections that DOE set out to reach, and save consumers on energy bills.

The American public supports appliance efficiency standards. A YouGov poll conducted this summer found that 58% of Americans support stronger standards, while only 25% oppose them. A Morning Consult poll in 2023 found very similar results.  

The letter was signed by the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Wildlife Federation, the President of Earthjustice, the Executive Director of Environment America, the Executive Director of the Environmental Defense Fund, the Executive Director of the Sierra Club, and the Director of the Climate Action Campaign, as well as the Dir. Fed. Gov Relations, Climate and Energy for the Union of Concerned Scientists. The organizations collectively represent millions of members across the country.