Will AI accelerate or delay the race to net-zero emissions?

Driverless taxis run by artificial intelligence use less fuel than conventional ones, but the wider climate impacts are unclear. Credit: Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already transforming the global economy. Companies are investing hundreds of billions of dollars each year in these technologies. In almost every sector, AI is being used to drive operational efficiencies, manage complexity, provide personalized services and speed up innovation.

Federal court strikes down Biden's climate rule for states

A federal district court has overturned the Biden administration's climate rule that required states to track and set reduction goals for greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles on highways.

In a sweeping judgment late Monday, Judge Benjamin Beaton of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky ordered the Federal Highway Administration to stand down on the rules, which the agency finalized in November. The ruling represents a major victory for the State of Kentucky, which challenged the regulations alongside 21 other states.

New Pollution Rules Aim to Lift Sales of Electric Trucks

The Biden administration on Friday announced a regulation designed to turbocharge sales of electric or other zero-emission heavy vehicles, from school buses to cement mixers, as part of its multifront attack on global warming.

The Environmental Protection Agency projects the new rule could mean that 25 percent of new long-haul trucks, the heaviest on the road, and 40 percent of medium-size trucks, like box trucks and landscaping vehicles, could be nonpolluting by 2032. Today, fewer than 2 percent of new heavy trucks sold in the United States fit that bill.

EPA announces new emissions standards; trucking groups react

The Environmental Protection Agency today announced a final rule the agency said sets stronger standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty vehicles beginning in model year 2027. Major trucking organizations reacted, saying the industry has already done plenty to reduce pollution, and the new rules will be expensive, and overly burdensome, especially for small trucking businesses.