By Abbas Nazil
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed ending a mandatory program that requires around 8,000 facilities to report their greenhouse gas emissions.
The agency argues the reporting system imposes bureaucratic red tape without providing meaningful improvements to air quality, public health, or environmental protection.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin described the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program as unnecessary and ineffective, emphasizing that its data collection is not tied directly to potential regulation and has limited impact on health or environmental outcomes.
The proposal stems from a day-one executive order by President Donald Trump aimed at eliminating barriers to expanding US energy production, especially fossil fuels.
It is part of a wider campaign of regulatory rollbacks that have dismantled earlier US climate policies and commitments.
If finalized, the new rule would eliminate reporting requirements for most large industrial facilities, fuel and gas suppliers, and CO2 injection sites.
However, companies in the oil and gas sector subject to a waste emissions charge would still be required to submit methane emissions data.
The announcement follows the EPA’s earlier plan to repeal the “endangerment finding,” a cornerstone regulation that allowed the agency to control greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and stationary sources.
The Trump administration has also declared its intent to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, which obligates signatories to cut emissions and report progress.
Further moves include ending the collection of environmental databases by the EPA and other federal agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, while also halting greenhouse gas-monitoring satellites run by Nasa.
The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, first introduced under previous administrations, covers 47 categories of emission sources, ranging from industrial facilities to suppliers.
Its termination would mark a major reduction in public transparency, leaving environmental groups and researchers with limited access to critical emissions data.
