STATEMENT: US EPA Repeals Climate Pollution Rules for Power Plants

WASHINGTON and HOUSTON (September 14, 2026) - Today at a gathering of G20 energy ministers in Houston, Texas, the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced a final rule repealing carbon emissions limits from fossil fuel-fired power plants.

Following is a statement from David Widawsky, US Director, World Resources Institute:

"The EPA's announcement is a major retreat from the government's responsibility to protect Americans from dangerous air and climate pollution.

"The power sector is responsible for roughly one-quarter of climate pollution in the U.S, its second largest source of emissions. Yet instead of requiring power plants to reduce those emissions, EPA is proposing to once again give fossil fuel generators a free ride, shifting the burden onto American families, communities, businesses, and taxpayers.

"The costs of fossil electricity on people's health and jobs is already staggering. Millions of Americans are already breathing unhealthy air from wildfires and other pollution-which now may get worse. EPA's own analyses show that fossil electricity imposes tens of thousands of avoidable health impacts annually and contributes to hundreds of billions of dollars in health costs. This is on top of the $150 billion in losses on average that U.S. communities now face each year from more destructive flooding, wildfires, droughts and heat waves.

"Repealing carbon standards for coal- and gas-fired power plants effectively allows those costs to continue being pushed onto the rest of society. It creates an uneven economic playing field by giving fossil electricity a regulatory pass while making it harder for cleaner, lower-cost energy technologies to compete fairly. Americans should not be forced to subsidize pollution through higher disaster recovery costs, insurance premiums, healthcare bills, and infrastructure damage.

"There is a better path forward. Americans deserve an energy system that is clean, affordable, reliable, and competitive. They deserve policies that reward innovation, protect public health, and ensure that the true costs of pollution are not borne by families and communities. EPA should be strengthening safeguards against climate and air pollution, not weakening them."

• Darla Bijou van Hoorn

  Media Relations Manager