Achieving Biden’s climate goals requires timely White House review of energy efficiency rules

(26 Jan 2023) The Biden administration has a big agenda for strengthening energy efficiency standards in the second half of this term, but achieving it will require that White House reviews not be a stumbling block.

A newly confirmed regulatory czar, Richard Revesz, could help make the administration’s climate goals become a reality—and not allow the rulemaking agenda to go off track.

While the administration wrestles with the massive job of implementing the climate investments of the Inflation Reduction Act, agencies must also tackle the separate (and often overdue) work of setting binding energy standards. For instance, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is preparing a preliminary step toward ensuring that federally supported homes are built to far stronger efficiency criteria. The Department of Energy (DOE) is working on dozens of updated appliance and equipment standards that it recently said “will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2.4 billion metric tons and save consumers $570 billion cumulatively over 30 years.” The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation are expected to propose long-awaited new standards for both cars and trucks in the coming months—helping determine the climate impact of tens of millions of vehicles.