“These standards ignore the urgency of the climate crisis,” said Vera Pardee, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute.

Once the various credits and “flexibilities” for automakers are accounted for, the estimated mileage drops to less than 47 miles per gallon. According to CBD, cars are already available today that meet and exceed this standard. Once the exponential increase in cars and drivers on the road is accounted for, that means greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise drastically.

The biggest set back to these standards includes a loophole which relieves automakers from improving pickup truck mileage until 2020.

The loophole will actually act as an incentive to build more SUVs and pickup trucks, according to the group. "These vehicles consume more fuel and emit more greenhouse gases, yet the standards require lower efficiency-improvement rates for them as compared to cars. As a result, building SUVs and pickups will remain more profitable for manufacturers — an incentive very likely to increase the number of SUVs and trucks on the roads," CBD stated today.

“Cars and trucks are the low-hanging fruit in the fight to get carbon pollution under control, and the technologies to reduce emissions exist or are on the drawing board,” said Vera Pardee, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “But the administration rejected a standard employing those technologies and instead incentivized SUVs and heavier trucks over cars. Automakers’ profits may improve, but the climate crisis will get worse...Setting fuel economy standards for 2025 that are lower than what we can achieve right now is not the kind of progress we urgently need,” said Pardee.