The US Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing a repeal of carbon pollution standards for coal and gas power plants, with an announcement expected around the G20 energy ministers meeting in Houston. The move targets rules introduced under the Biden administration that limited carbon dioxide, mercury, and other air pollutants from the power sector. A separate proposal would revoke the federal finding that greenhouse gases from power plants pose a specific threat. That finding matters because it underpins EPA authority to regulate power sector emissions in the future. The Biden-era rules were projected to cut one billion metric tons of CO2 by 2047. The power sector accounts for roughly a quarter of US greenhouse gas pollution. With federal rules removed, state-level carbon programs and grid economics will play a larger role in deciding how fast fossil plants retire and how much clean capacity replaces them.
