Environmental and Government News #6: 10/14/25

  Hello! There are some big, big changes going on, so let's cover them.

Firstly, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has proposed to eliminate the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), which requires large industrial facilities to report their annual emissions. The motivation for the proposal is to reduce regulatory burden and save money for businesses. However, even if the GHGRP is ended, some certain oil and gas facilities would still have to report in 2034 due to the Clean Air Act. However, oppositions argue that removing these reporting hurts transparency, and makes it harder to track climate progress. In my opinion, this is a huge step back for climate regulation, and I think in order to continue moving forward, we need more real data and numbers, not less. However, this proposal conflicts with existing laws and requirements, which could lead to legal challenges.

As of yesterday, the University of Exeter's Global Tipping Points Report has reported that the Earth has crossed its first irreversible tipping point: the mass dieoff of warm-water coral reefs. Essentially, as global temperatures move beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius, many new "tipping points" can happen, such as the ice sheet melt, ocean current collapse, etc. These "tipping points" are connected like dominos, and can all happen almost simultaneously.  Unless massive changes, like extreme renewable energy adoption are implemented, it seems that these crisis are unavoidable and irreversible. I think it's really sad the sense of hopelessness this issue has, and I think it will take humankind seeing these disasters first hand to grasp the seriousness of the situation, and possibly inspire actual change.

On a brighter note, the state of California has enacted a broad climate and energy package. Governor Newsom signed 6 bills which extend and reform California's cap-and-trade through 2045; directs cap-and-trade revenue to clean transportation, resilience, and community investments; addresses wildfire mitigation and improves electricity market structures; reorganizes environmental justice oversight bodies; adjusts gasoline regulation; and more. If you don't know what cap-and-trade is, it's essentially just a market-based system to reduce pollution, in which the government sets a cap on total emissions for certain sectors, and companies can buy limited amounts of emission permits, and companies that cut emissions below their allowance can sell unused permits. It's a really cool system that encourages companies to do good for the environment. Overall, this introduces a lot of great changes that have the potential to make lots of impact, it is just up to the follow through and regulation of these laws that will decide how much.

Today's Fun Fact: One tree can absorb about 48 pounds of CO2 per year, and can store about one ton of carbon across its whole life. 


-Oscar



Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/09/12/greenhouse-gas-emissions-reporting-epa 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251013040325.htm

https://www.gibsondunn.com/gibson-dunn-esg-monthly-update-september-2025

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