Since EPA launched the “Climate Leaders” program in 2002, EPA partnered with industry to address GHG emissions voluntarily. Among other things, participating companies committed to inventory, reduce, and report GHG emissions transparently.
On September 15, 2010, however, EPA formally announced plans to focus its GHG-related efforts elsewhere and encouraged its program participants to find new partners. See here. In the “break-up” letter, signed by Gina McCarthy, EPA stated:
EPA has determined that climate programs operated by the states and NGOs are now robust enough to service our Partners and other entities that wish to continue to advance their climate leadership through comprehensive reporting (that exceed mandatory reporting requirements) and/or the establishment of facility or corporate level GHG reduction goals. For this reason, over the coming year, EPA will phase down services the Agency provides under the federal Climate Leaders program and encourage and assist the transition of our Partners into nonfederal programs that our Partners choose to join. With the exception of programs offered by our state co-regulators, EPA cannot endorse any particular program – it is up to each Partner to decide which program would be the best fit.
While EPA (through the Climate Leaders program) previously sought to reward partners that created a “credible record” of their GHG-related accomplishments, it would appear that EPA has taken another step toward the “command and control” approach exemplified by the mandatory GHG Reporting Rule and GHG Tailoring Rule. Should judicial decisions or congressional action impair EPA’s ability to regulate GHGs forcibly, one wonders whether industry will take EPA back.
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