Automakers face emissions legal challenge

The lawsuit filed by California aims to seek financial compensation from manufacturers - General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Daimler Chrysler, Nissan and Honda – for their vehicles' emissions contribution to climate change. According to the file, these manufacturers produce vehicles that emit a combined 289 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in the United States each year. This would currently account for nearly 20 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. Those emissions, the file alleges, would have had significant contribution to global warming, harmed the resources, infrastructure and environmental health of California, and cost the state millions of dollars to address current and future effects. The result of the lawsuit has implications for several other US states that have adopted California’s automobile emissions standards in the absence of federal fuel economy mandates. Reactions Attorney General Bill Lockyer issued the legal challenge on behalf of the State. He explained that “global warming is causing significant harm to California’s environment, economy, agriculture and public health. The impacts are already costing millions of dollars and the price tag is increasing." "Vehicle emissions are the single most rapidly growing source of the carbon emissions contributing to global warming, yet the federal government and automakers have refused to act. It is time to hold these companies responsible for their contribution to this crisis”, he concluded.