MECA releases figures on economic benefits of US emission control industry

14 March 2011

The Manufacturers of Emission Controls Association (MECA) released new information on the economic benefits of the mobile source emission control industry in the United States. For 2010, MECA estimates that the total economic activity associated with emission control technology on new cars and trucks in the United States is approximately $12 billion.

According to MECA, since the introduction of catalytic converters on light-duty vehicles in 1975 as a result of emission requirements under the 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA), more than 500 million light-duty vehicles have been sold in the USA equipped with exhaust and evaporative emission control technologies. A conservative estimate for the cumulative economic activity associated with emission controls on light-duty vehicles over this time period is $250-300 billion. In 2010 alone, sales of US light-duty vehicles (meeting EPA Tier 2 emission standards) totaled 11.6 million units, which generated emission control economic activity of nearly $10 billion. Globally, light-duty vehicle sales totaled 72 million units in 2010; this translates into emission control economic activity of $36-43 billion.

For heavy-duty diesel vehicles, since 2007, approximately two million heavy- and medium-duty trucks have been sold in the USA equipped with diesel particulate filters. This translates into cumulative emission control economic activity of $4-6 billion dollars over the period of 2007-2010. Since the majority of trucks sold in 2010 were also equipped with selective catalytic reduction systems, medium- and heavy-duty truck sales in the USA in 2010 provided approximately $2 billion in economic activity related to emission control technologies.

Overall, the total emission control economic activity in the United States in 2010 of approximately $12 billion (light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles) is equivalent to the 2010 revenues of companies that rank in the range of 185 to 200 in the Fortune 500 for 2010. In terms of employment, MECA member companies currently account for approximately 65,000 jobs in the United States.

Source: MECA