US coal ‘biggest contributor by far’ to rise in global emissions
US coal 'biggest contributor by far' to rise in global emissions. Related topicsGreenhouse gas emissionsDonald TrumpEnvironmentEffects of global warmingUnited StatesClimateMore on this storyHow cleaning up the air is speeding up global warming – and revealing a bigger problemPublished6 days agoFossil fuel emissions rise again – but renewables boom offers hope for climatePublished13 November 2025A really simple guide to climate changePublished14 January
What happened
Fossil fuels, which include coal and natural gas, are by far the largest driver of global climate change, according to the United Nations. US power sector emissions have been generally falling over the past couple of decades, albeit with a slight uptick last year, as coal use has fallen. The precise consequences of today's announcement for US emissions – and global climate change – are uncertain. In 2022, the EPA lost some of its powers to limit greenhouse gas emissions when the Supreme Court ruled in favour of 19 states and some of the nation's largest coal companies, which were worried about the economic cost of the policy and argued the agency did not have the authority to limit emissions across whole states.
Image source, Getty ImagesByMadeline Halpert and Mark Poynting, Climate reporterPublished14 September 2026Rules aimed at limiting pollution from coal and gas power plants are being scrapped, the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced. The agency also said it would take steps to prevent future administrations from regulating power plant emissions. The EPA said in a statement that it found the Biden-era rules on power plant emissions had "exceeded the agency's authority".
The wider picture
The Biden-era regulations called for a major reduction in carbon emissions from power plants, as well as vehicles and industrial facilities. The US is currently the second-biggest emitter of planet-warming greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, behind China. And the power sector makes up about a quarter of US emissions, at roughly 1. That means the US power sector emissions are higher than the total emissions of all but a handful of countries. But Trump has long argued for a resurgence in coal power and has regularly criticised renewables such as wind and solar.
Some researchers question whether coal will ever make the resurgence that Trump hopes for. Monday's announcement is the latest move by President Donald Trump's administration to walk back policies designed to combat global warming and climate change. The Steam Frame headset is here, and it may not surprise you: it was supposed to cost less than $1,059.
What has been reported
“We set out to come out with a device that would have been far more affordable, but the global RAM market, the global storage market have impacted us the same way they’ve impacted everybody,” Valve developer Jeremy Selan told the BBC. Now, as Canada's top pitch man, Carney is looking to leverage personal relationships from his time spent in the top tiers of global finance to woo some of the world's wealthiest asset managers and business leaders to bet on his country.
For two days, Toronto will host more than 100 global investors overseeing more than C$100tn ($72tn; £53tn) in assets, in the hope that new economic relationships will help Canada navigate an increasingly unstable geopolitical climate. "Global capital is looking for opportunity, but opportunity alone does not make a market investible," said Naomi Powell, director of the CPP Investments Insight Institute. While shifting away from its closest business partner will prove a test for Carney, the former central banker has an address book full of the world's biggest business bosses and is on first-name terms with many of them.
"It's not a group of politicians inviting financiers, it's a group of former financiers and investment people inviting their former buddies," added Miville Tremblay, who worked with Carney for several years at the Bank of Canada, and saw his skills on show during the 2008 global financial crisis. Still, Drew Fagan, a professor at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs, says the main challenge for the prime minister is the current rift with the US happening more rapidly than the time it takes to develop and build new global trade partnerships.
The EPA said that getting rid of the majority of the climate rules from President Joe Biden's era would save $310bn (£223bn) and reduce energy prices.
What happens next
But environmental groups warned it would come at a huge cost to Americans' health and the planet. The EPA's move is expected to face immediate legal challenges. "The reality is that America produces energy better and cleaner than anywhere else in the world, and our power plants should not be unfairly targeted," the head of the EPA, Lee Zeldin, said on Monday. The agency said the regulations required "control technologies that are not adequately demonstrated, effectively forcing plants to retire rather than setting standards they could actually meet".
The EPA is also seeking to get rid of all other greenhouse gas rules for the power sector. The changes, which will undergo public scrutiny, were proposed last year by Zeldin. He said the new rules would "ensure affordable and reliable energy supplies and drive down the costs of transportation, heating, utilities, farming, and manufacturing while boosting our national security".
The report has been compiled by The Daily Waves using information reported across bbc.co.uk, theverge.com. Details are presented according to the information available at the time of publication and may change as authorities, organisers or other relevant parties provide updates.