Trump will roll back the basis of US climate regulation, ending vehicle emissions standards

President’s rule Donald Trump announced on Thursday (February 12, 2026) that it would overturn scientific research that greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat to human health, removing the legal basis for federal climate regulations.

It ended subsequent federal greenhouse gas emissions standards for all vehicles and engines for model years 2012 through 2027.

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The move represents the administration’s most sweeping climate change policy rollback to date, following a series of regulatory cuts and other moves aimed at deregulating fossil fuel development and halting the rollout of clean energy.

“Under the process that the EPA has just completed, we are officially ending a disastrous Obama-era policy known as hazard detection, which severely damaged the American auto industry and raised prices for American consumers,” said Mr. Trump, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and longtime director of the White House Budget.

Mr Trump believes climate change is a “hoax” and has withdrawn the United States from the Paris accord, excluding the world’s largest historic contributor to global warming from international efforts to kill Biden-era tax credits and accelerate the deployment of electric cars and renewables.

The so-called hazard finding was first adopted by the United States in 2009 and led the EPA to take action under the Clean Air Act of 1963 to curb emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and four other heat-trapping air pollutants from vehicles, power plants and other industries.

Its repeal removes regulatory requirements for cars to measure, report, certify and comply with federal greenhouse gas emissions standards but initially does not apply to stationary sources such as power plants.

According to EPA statistics, the transportation and power sectors each account for a quarter of US greenhouse gas emissions.

Repeal of the EPA would save US taxpayers $1.3 trillion by eliminating hazard detection and all federal GHG emission standards for vehicles.

While many industry groups support the repeal of stricter vehicle emissions standards, they have been reluctant to show public support for repealing the hazard finding due to legal and regulatory uncertainty. Legal experts said the policy reversal could lead to a surge in lawsuits over so-called “public nuisance” actions, an avenue blocked since a 2011 Supreme Court ruling that GHG regulation should be left in the hands of the Environmental Protection Agency instead of the courts.

“This is another classic case where the Trump administration is going to come back to bite it,” said Robert Percival, an environmental law professor at the University of Maryland.

Environmental groups have criticized the proposed repeal as dangerous to the climate. Future U.S. administrations seeking to control greenhouse gas emissions will have to reconfigure the pursuit of risk, which is politically and legally complex.

Despite the EPA’s claim that climate controls have increased costs for consumers, the Environmental Defense Fund said the repeal would cost Americans more.

“Administrator Lee Zeldin has directed the EPA to stop protecting the American people from pollution that causes bad storms, floods and skyrocketing insurance costs,” said EDF President Fred Krupp. “This action will only lead to more pollution, and that will lead to higher costs and real harm to American families.”