Klimawandel: USA heben Emissionsvorschriften für Kraftwerke auf

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has lifted regulations limiting climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas power plants. The majority of the greenhouse gas regulations for U.S. power plants, introduced under the previous Democratic administration of President Joe Biden, will be withdrawn, according to EPA chief Lee Zeldin at a G20 ministerial meeting in Houston, Texas.

"For over 15 years, governments under (Barack) Obama and Biden have waged war on coal to destroy reliable and affordable energy," Zeldin was quoted in an EPA statement. The Trump administration aimed to change this, promising Americans "lower electricity prices." Coal-fired power generation is expected to increase more than tenfold, as per the EPA announcement.

The recently announced removal of emission standards is likely to face legal challenges in the U.S. They relate to 2024 standards that required coal-fired power plants to drastically reduce their climate-damaging emissions, or face closure by 2039. The EPA now proposes to lift all remaining regulations on power plant greenhouse gas emissions in the future, arguing it is not authorized under current laws to regulate emissions from power plants for climate change.

In February, the Trump-aligned EPA declared greenhouse gases harmless, effectively nullifying the legal basis for climate protection laws. This action, known as the Endangerment Finding, had classified the main greenhouse gases, including CO2, as a threat to public health and welfare since 2009. Greenhouse gases are considered the primary drivers of man-made climate change since the late 19th century, leading to a clear increase in global average temperatures.

This has affected all regions of the world, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), through more frequent and intense extreme weather events like floods, heatwaves, and droughts. The U.S. is among the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Since taking office, Trump has rolled back various climate protection measures.

In January, the United States officially withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement. In it, around 200 countries had agreed to limit global warming compared to pre-industrial times to significantly below 2 degrees, and preferably to only 1.5 degrees, thus avoiding the worst consequences of the climate crisis.