The EPA Endangerment Finding Repeal has Global Consequences

The United States’ Environmental Protection Agency has repealed the landmark climate finding, which hinges on the government's ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The Guardian explains that the endangerment finding “states that the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere endangers public health and welfare, has since 2009 allowed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to limit heat-trapping pollution from vehicles, power plants and other industrial sources.” This rollback “removes the government’s ability to impose requirements to track, report and limit climate-heating pollution from cars and trucks. Transportation is the largest source of climate pollution in the US.” The EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin highlighted that “no longer will automakers be pressured to shift their fleets towards electric vehicles,” which may cause significant problems for an uncertain future.

Without the guardrails to limit air pollution caused by vehicles and power plants, the Trump administration believes that there will be extraordinary growth in these sectors. They believe that the regulations placed on businesses to monitor pollution impedes economic growth and the costs to enforce limits on air pollution curbs the industry’s ability to innovate. Without the limits, the Trump administration believes that companies will save up to $1 trillion but many people criticise this idea as the environmental monetary cost will outweigh the transportation industry’s economic gain. There is also the green transition costs that are already in motion for many of these business sectors. The Financial Times reported that carmakers, like Stellantis, scrapped some of their electric vehicle models and revived a popular 5.7-litre “Hemi” V8 engine in the US, after the reversal of the climate policy. It was also noted that the “cancellation of EV credits in the US and President Donald Trump’s determination to further roll back regulations to cut vehicle emissions mean industry executives now expect EVs to account for just 5 per cent of America’s new vehicle market in the coming years — about half the current level.” Without incentives to stay competitive in the electric car market, the United States will most likely fall behind in developing the industry, where it is flourishing in China.

The US continued the anti-climate fight by encouraging other countries to abandon the net-zero emission programs. The US Energy secretary Chris Wright asked other energy ministers to abandon the green energy transition during a meeting at the International Energy Agency. He threatened to quit “IEA outright if it didn't abandon "leftist fantasies.’” The other ministers have explained that they will not be pressured by this rhetoric and are determined to continue building renewable energy infrastructure. The Trump administration has also withdrawn from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and is now the only country to refuse to participate in climate change discussions and negotiations. Without the participation of the US, the resources and knowledgebase is in jeopardy, including “Satellite data on forest cover collected at regular intervals through US space programmes, the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration monitoring from Mauna Loa, and global earthquake monitoring could all be revoked from organisations that need it to make critical decisions about energy and the environment.” Without the US as a reliable partner in the fight against climate change, other countries are more than willing to step into their place.