General Motors agreed to pay nearly $146 million after almost six million of its vehicles released excess carbon dioxide emissions, the government announced Wednesday, after it found the vehicles were releasing more than 10% higher levels of the greenhouse gas on average than GM initially claimed.
General Motors agreed to a fine of $145.8 million for its fuel economy compliance issues, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and will cancel more than 30 million fuel economy credits earned for exceeding federal efficiency rules. In addition to the fine and canceled fuel credits, the Environmental Protection Agency announced GM agreed to retire about 50 million metric tons of greenhouse gas credits as another step toward resolving its excess carbon emissions.
The agreement stems from an EPA investigation that found about 5.9 million GM vehicles from 2012 to 2018—including popular models like the Chevrolet Equinox with front-wheel drive and the Cadillac Escalade with two-wheel drive—were releasing excess carbon dioxide. GM spokesperson Bill Grotz told Forbes in an email GM has complied with all applicable laws but believes “this is the best course of action to swiftly resolve outstanding issues with the federal government” and it “remains committed to reducing auto emissions.”
4.6 million. That’s about how many 2012 to 2018 full size pickups and SUVs were involved in the issue, along with 1.3 million 2012 to 2018 midsize SUVs, according to the EPA.
The EPA is not alleging GM used a device to intentionally reduce emissions when tested like it said Volkswagen did in its 2015 diesel emissions case. In that case, Volkswagen ultimately admitted to using software in diesel engines that allowed them to detect when they were being tested and change their emissions to improve results, the BBC reported. As a result of that situation, Volkswagen was required to pay about $20 billion in fines.
The Biden Administration has made standards around car emissions a key element of its climate work, recently passing national pollution standards for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty vehicles for model years 2027 through 2032 that are expected to significantly reduce pollution and increase sales and manufacturing of clean vehicles.
