[Rob Hood]

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=128569

Article is posted in case the link is bad -

SACRAMENTO, California — The state of California will require all 2009 model and later cars to be labeled with stickers giving their global warming score, starting at the beginning of the year. The labels will rate vehicles on a scale of 1-10 — with 10 being the best and 5 an average number — based on direct emissions and emissions related to fuel production, and will let consumers make comparisons between models.

California vehicles already are given a Smog Score, in which new models are rated on a 1-10 scale for emissions. The labeling will be displayed side by side on new vehicles sold in the state. Consumers can also look up detailed information on the Drive Clean Web site.

New York can expect a similar sticker law for new models starting in 2010.

What this means to you: Environmental-impact stickers: not just for refrigerators anymore.

[pknowles]

The reason why I hate "ratings" like this is they don't publish the guidelines they use (or at least I couldn't find it on their website in under 5 minutes) to generate this magic number. This makes the number absolutely meaningless and as credible as a random number generator. Are they using the EPA's rating system (I assume so), which is very biased and only based on engine emissions during the EPA rating dyno sessions regardless of what vehicle it goes into. The weight and aerodynamic performance has a dramatic effect on how hard the engine has to work and therefore emissions.

http://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/Aboutratings.do