Clean Power Plan

United States government policy

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Last updated

July 21, 2026

Quick Summary

The Clean Power Plan was a United States government policy proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2015. It aimed to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, specifically targeting carbon dioxide. The plan sought to set output-based standards, requiring new fossil-fuel power plants to emit no more than 1,000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour. This standard was already met by most new natural gas plants built after 2005, but would have significantly impacted new coal plants, which emitted much higher levels of CO2.1

The policy was part of broader efforts to address climate change and was rooted in the EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act. However, the U.S. Supreme Court later limited the EPA's authority to impose such broad emissions caps without explicit congressional authorization.2

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Paris Agreement
Background
…accomplish that goal, the country’s Clean Power Plan was to set limits on existing and planned power plant emissions. China, the country with the largest total greenhouse gas emissions, set its target for the peaking of its carbon dioxide emissions “around 2030 and making best efforts to peak early.” Chinese…
Read More
…accomplish that goal, the country’s Clean Power Plan was to set limits on existing and planned power plant emissions. China, the country with the largest total greenhouse gas emissions, set its target for the peaking of its carbon dioxide emissions “around 2030 and making best efforts to peak early.” Chinese…
Read More

Donald Trump
Environmental policy
…Clinton; rescinding the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, a set of EPA regulations that had mandated a 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions by the U.S. power sector between 2005 and 2030; revoking fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light trucks developed by the EPA during the Obama administration; and proposing…
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…Clinton; rescinding the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, a set of EPA regulations that had mandated a 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions by the U.S. power sector between 2005 and 2030; revoking fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light trucks developed by the EPA during the Obama administration; and proposing…
Read More