US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he does not recognize a scientific conclusion from 2009 that greenhouse gases threaten public health. The so-called "endangerment finding" from 2009 forms the basis for a number of climate laws and initiatives, including regulations on emissions from cars.
- This provision had no factual basis, none at all, and no legal basis, Trump said on Thursday, according to the AFP news agency.
At the same time, he reiterated his position that man-made climate change is a hoax.
- You shouldn't worry about it, because it has nothing to do with public health, it was all a hoax, a gigantic hoax, says the president.
Green organizations see it as the Trump administration's most far-reaching rollback of climate policy to date.
Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, told AFP it was the "single largest attack ever on the US federal government's efforts to tackle the climate crisis". California Governor Gavin Newsom is among the leading Democrats to condemn Trump's move.
- This decision betrays the American people and cements the Republican Party's status as a pro-pollution party, Newsom said.
Trump's announcement came at a White House event, where the president was accompanied by the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lee Zeldin. The Trump administration has therefore formally removed the standards for greenhouse gas emissions from cars. However, this repeal is expected to be quickly challenged in court by climate organizations.
President Barack Obama used the scientific decision from 2009 as the legal basis for a number of climate regulations.
The decision states that six greenhouse gases - including CO2 and methane - pose a danger to public health, as they exacerbate global warming.
Several of the regulations that were introduced on the basis of the scientific results - including limits on how much CO2 coal-fired power plants can emit - are now expected to be reversed after Trump has swept away the basis for them.
In a post on X, former President Obama warns that Trump's decision to overturn the "endangerment finding" that led the Obama administration to introduce climate laws in 2009 will have negative consequences.
- Without it, we are less safe, less healthy and less able to combat climate change, writes Obama.
- All so that the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.
/ritzau/
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