The United States Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s decision to repeal limits on greenhouse gas emissions will have detrimental impacts, according to Penn climate experts.<\/p>\n
The EPA announcement<\/a>, released last month, reverses regulations on power plant emissions made under the Biden administration. The repeal is yet another refusal by 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump to address climate change, an issue he called<\/a> the \u201cgreatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Trump Administration and the MAGA movement have turned their backs on science,\u201d Legal Studies and Business Ethics professor Eric Orts wrote in a statement, calling the decision \u201cdevastating.\u201d<\/p>\n The administration\u2019s \u201cdenial\u201d of climate science is the \u201cworst setback for making climate progress in history,\u201d Orts added.<\/p>\n Political Science professor Scott Moore wrote in a statement that the repeal \u201csignals a general retreat from any federal action to limit the contribution of US industry to climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n Get the DP delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n Sign Up<\/a><\/p>\n Earth and Environmental Studies professor Michael Mann shared Moore\u2019s criticism.<\/p>\n These decisions have \u201cblunted\u201d the country\u2019s progress in moving toward renewable energy, Mann wrote in a statement. He cited how renewables accounted<\/a> for roughly 88% of new electrical generating capacity added in the United States last year, which outperformed the 85% achieved by the rest of the world.<\/p>\n The Trump administration\u2019s move to block critical clean energy infrastructure and \u201cdouble down\u201d on policies incentivizing fossil fuel extraction allows foreign competitors like China to lead the global renewable energy revolution, Mann stated.<\/p>\n He added that these developments have also \u201ceroded\u201d the scientific community\u2019s confidence in the administration\u2019s science and research policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mann took part <\/a>in a 2025 open letter<\/a> signed by nearly 2,000 scientists and engineers that denounced the administration\u2019s \u201cassault\u201d on science through mass federal layoffs, funding freezes, and the cancellation of vital grants \u2014 including at Penn.<\/p>\n \u201cThe U.S. is falling behind the rest of the world on the climate issue; this failure will come back to haunt us,\u201d Orts wrote. \u201cMany more people will likely die from climate-related causes as a result. Likely millions if present policy continues.\u201d<\/p>\n Orts blames \u201cthe greed of Big Oil and Gas\u201d for \u201cdriving us off the climate cliff.\u201d<\/p>\n He also wrote that artificial intelligence has become a focus for corporations \u201callied\u201d with the technology due to its \u201cvast energy needs.\u201d<\/p>\n Penn Carey Law professor of Energy Policy Shelley Welton wrote in a statement that the administration\u2019s repeal could not have \u201ccome at a worse time for the power sector,\u201d given the rise<\/a> of data centers, which require rapid expansion of energy generation infrastructure.<\/p>\n Welton added that the energy sources used to fulfill this \u201cballooning demand\u201d will have \u201creverberating effects on the climate for decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n Citing both the upcoming midterms in November and the 2028 general election, Mann wrote that voting for politicians who will \u201csupport rather than hinder our progress\u201d is one way for people to make a difference.<\/p>\n \u201cThis can be reversed in two years if voters elect a president who actually cares about the livability of our planet,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n On Oct. 1, a coalition of state and city officials, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, sued<\/a> the Trump administration over the regulation repeal.<\/p>\n \u201cDismantling these protections is a betrayal of American families, and the stakes are too high to allow this administration to once again put profits over people,\u201d New York Attorney General Letitia James said in her announcement<\/a> of the lawsuit.<\/p>\n The EPA\u2019s decision follows its earlier repeal<\/a> of the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding in February, reversing the conclusion that greenhouse gases endangered public health, and therefore removing the prerequisite for implementing emissions standards for vehicles and other sectors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know how to solve the climate crisis technologically,\u201d Orts wrote, citing how solar and wind sources are now often cheaper<\/a> than oil and gas prices. \u201cIt is a large engineering problem, but not an impossible one.\u201d<\/p>\n