Reframing Automobile Fuel Economy Policy in North America: The Politics of Punctuating a Policy Equilibrium

The USA and Canada generate over one‐third of the transportation‐related emissions of carbon dioxide in the world. Motor vehicles produce a majority of these emissions. This paper examines how the US Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulatory standard for light‐duty vehicles has established an underlying fuel economy policy paradigm for the highly integrated North American automotive sector. While these standards pushed North American vehicle fuel efficiency higher in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the standards have not been significantly increased since 1985. The paper details the institutional, economic and political factors that have blocked higher CAFE standards. It describes difficulties with the legal efforts to shift the main venue of fuel economy regulation from the US federal government to the state of California. In light of the Canadian tradition of establishing voluntary agreements between the government and the auto manufacturers in lieu of formal regulation, it assesses the possibility that the voluntary agreement on reducing automotive greenhouse gas emissions signed between Ottawa and Canadian auto manufacturers in April 2005 will be a step toward a new style of negotiated advances in fuel economy and greenhouse gas reduction goals throughout North America.