The move comes as Biden tries to win over the powerful United Auto Workers union, which has thus far withheld its endorsement of his reelection bid over concerns about policies that would encourage a transition to electric vehicles.
“We are glad to see the Biden Administration doing its part to reject the false choice between a good job and a green job,” said UAW President Shawn Fain in a statement. “This new policy makes clear to employers that the EV transition must include strong union partnerships with the high pay and safety standards that generations of UAW members have fought for and won.”
Transportation is the biggest source of planet-warming pollution in the US, the Congressional Budget Office said in a December report. It also noted that light duty vehicles, the average cars Americans drive, account for 58% of those emissions.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported last year that aggressive, pollution-slashing changes in the global transportation sector — including the transition to EVs — could reduce the sector’s emissions by more than 80%.
