The Environmental Protection Agency is quietly advancing a proposal to sharply limit the collection of greenhouse gas emissions data from polluters across the country.
The change, ordered by a Trump-appointed official, would end a long-standing program that tracks emissions from thousands of facilities — including power plants, oil refineries, and cement manufacturers — and make it harder to monitor the country’s contribution to global warming.
“This would reduce the detail and accuracy of U.S. reporting of greenhouse gas emissions,” Michael Gillenwater, executive director of the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute, told Pro Publica. “This would also make it harder for climate policy to happen down the road.”
Sweep the CO2 under the rug
Since 2010, the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program has required roughly 8,000 large facilities to submit annual emissions data. These records form the backbone of U.S. climate monitoring and shape international reporting obligations.
Now, EPA officials have directed staff to rewrite the rules so that only about 2,300 oil and gas facilities would continue reporting. Forty of the 41 industry sectors currently required to submit data would be excluded.
“This is just putting our heads in the sand,” said Rachel Cleetus, a senior policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Not tracking the data doesn’t make the climate crisis any less real.”
The agency has not responded to specific questions about the program’s future. Instead, it issued a general statement reaffirming its commitment to “clean air, land, and water for EVERY American.”
In a press release last month, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin described the reporting program as “burdensome” and expensive. The announcement came alongside what the agency called the “most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history.”
Business, Climate, and Global Fallout
The proposed rollback could have wide-reaching consequences — not only for climate policy but also for businesses and international diplomacy.
Many companies use the EPA data for sustainability reports, shareholder updates, and compliance with overseas regulations. “If the program stops, all that valuable data will stop being generated,” said Edwin LaMair, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund.
Climate experts also warn that the move could undermine global climate cooperation.
“If the United States won’t even measure and report our own emissions, how in the world can we expect China, India, Indonesia and other major growing developing countries to do the same?” Andrew Light, a former U.S. energy official, added in an interview with Pro Publica.
Edward Maibach, a climate communication specialist at George Mason University, compared the move to turning off a hospital monitor. “It would be a bit like unplugging the equipment that monitors the vital signs of a patient that is critically ill,” he said.
Environmental advocates see a troubling pattern. “The bottom line is this is a giveaway to emitters,” Cleetus said. “Just letting them off the hook entirely.”
