The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a major rollback of its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), which has required large industrial facilities to monitor and report their emissions annually for over a decade. If enacted, the change would eliminate mandatory reporting for nearly all sectors except select segments of the oil and gas industry.

Under the proposed rule, only a portion of petroleum and natural gas operations would still need to report emissions, and even those requirements could be suspended until as late as 2034. The EPA justifies the rollback by citing the program’s financial and administrative burdens, estimating that it could save up to $2.4 billion over ten years. The agency also questions the legal foundation for requiring emissions data from many sectors not explicitly covered under current law.

This proposed change represents a significant shift in the U.S. climate policy landscape. The GHGRP has been a key source of emissions data used to shape policy, inform corporate sustainability strategies, and support carbon market mechanisms. Weakening it could reduce transparency and federal oversight, shifting more responsibility to state governments or voluntary corporate efforts.

For businesses, the rollback presents both opportunities and challenges. While it could reduce compliance costs and administrative work, it also introduces uncertainty. Companies will need to evaluate whether to maintain voluntary emissions disclosures to meet stakeholder expectations, especially from investors, supply chains, and environmentally conscious customers.

Strategically, the rollback may lead to a fragmented regulatory environment, with individual states or private sector actors developing their own reporting frameworks. This patchwork approach could complicate emissions tracking and erode consistency in national climate data. Additionally, it may undermine the U.S.’s position in international climate discussions by signaling a retreat from rigorous emissions oversight.

In short, the EPA’s proposal marks a pivot away from centralized federal greenhouse gas monitoring, toward a looser, more decentralized system. Companies and regulators alike should prepare for a period of adjustment and reevaluate how to meet environmental transparency and accountability goals in the absence of a uniform federal framework.

Source:

https://www.dakotasoft.com/blog/epa-ghg-rollback/