The National Blueprint for Decarbonizing Transportation: What comes next?
Thinking Big
To address the climate crisis, we must eliminate nearly all greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector by 2050 and implement a far-reaching strategy to achieve a future mobility system that is clean, safe, secure, accessible, affordable, equitable, and provides sustainable transportation options for people and goods. The U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization (Blueprint), developed by the EPA, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, is a landmark strategy for cutting all GHG emissions from the transportation sector by 2050.
Action Plans
The four agencies developed detailed action plans based on the three strategies of Convenient, Efficient, and Clean transportation options. These action plans are broken out into individual transportation sectors.
- Convenient Action Plan ( Summary (pdf) | Full report (pdf) )
- Efficient Action Plan ( Summary (pdf) | Full report (pdf) )
- Clean Rail Action Plan ( Summary (pdf) | Full report (pdf) )
- Clean Aviation Action Plan ( Full report (pdf) )
- Clean Maritime Action Plan ( Summary (pdf) | Full report (pdf) )
- Clean Medium and Heavy-Duty Action Plan ( Summary (pdf) | Full report (pdf) )
- Clean Light Duty Action Plan (coming soon)
- Clean Off-Road Action Plan ( Full report (pdf) )
The strategies outlined in the Blueprint and action plans emphasize existing commercially available solutions or technologies that are currently under advanced development and can be deployed in the near term. Additional research and development will be needed to further improve certain solutions and reduce costs, but progress and demonstration are well underway. Some of these solutions will result in immediate emissions reductions while others will require a longer time to implement, with impacts that will be observed over the decades to come. These action plans are also available at National Blueprint for Energy and Emissions Innovation in Transportation (DOE).
Before 2030 – Turning the Tide on Transportation GHGs:
Research and Investments to Support Deployment
2030-2040 – Accelerating Change:
Scaling Up Deployment of Clean Solutions
consumer response, and technology progress
2040-2050 – Completing the Transition:
A Sustainable and Equitable Future
achieve a net-zero-emissions economy
*Visit Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act for more information.
The Blueprint’s vision and action plans will guide and inform agencies’ policy and decision-making across a wide range of activities, including regulatory standard development, infrastructure investments, grants and technical assistance, research and innovation, evaluation, and deployment. They can also serve to guide other decision-makers, including federal, regional, state, local, and Tribal governments; the private sector, academia, and community-based organizations; and non-profit, grassroots, and philanthropic organizations toward decarbonized transportation solutions.
Our vision for a transformed transportation sector not only minimizes GHG and pollutant emissions but also ensures improvements towards a safe, affordable, and equitable system that provides better access to clean transportation options for all communities. Transportation systems must support resilience to the impacts of climate change, create new domestic jobs and economic opportunities, bring co-benefits to communities, and position the U.S. to lead the global race to clean energy and transportation technologies adoption.
Decarbonizing our transportation system will not come without challenges. However, with coordinated and bold actions across the federal government and with our partners, they are challenges that we can meet. We will continue to increase ambition, setting bold targets for improving our transportation systems and transitioning to zero emissions vehicles and fuels on a timeline consistent with achieving economy-wide 2030 and 2050 emissions reduction goals. The Blueprint is an exciting first step toward realizing the vision of an improved and sustainable transportation future.
For more details on the Blueprint’s strategies, visit The U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization.
What You Can Do
We can all play a role in decarbonizing transportation, whether it’s combining errands, biking/walking when possible, or consolidating online orders to streamline goods delivery. Smaller actions, done by many, can lead to big results.
Visit What You Can Do to Reduce Pollution from Vehicles and Engines for more ideas.