Status: Published
**Citation:**Bistline, et al. (2025), “Impacts of EPA's Finalized Power Plant Greenhouse Gas Standards.” Science 387(6730): 140-143.
Though their future is uncertain, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) finalized power plant rules are one of the most high-profile climate policies to date, but the complexity of these regulations makes their effects unclear. This analysis quantifies potential impacts of EPA’s rules on emissions, generation, and costs using nine models of the power sector and energy systems. Model results suggest that the rules could reduce power sector CO2 emissions and narrow their range—73-86% below 2005 levels in 2040 compared to 60-83% without the rules. Although carbon capture and storage (CCS) is expected to play an important role in achieving economy-wide net-zero emissions, the analysis finds limited CCS generation with the rules (0.7-3.0% in 2040), due to lower cost compliance pathways that the technology-neutral rules allow. Scenarios with higher electricity demand (e.g., from data centers) do not greatly impact emissions reductions under the rules.
A summary of this article is available here: Impacts of EPA's Power Plant Rules Summary
Link to Journal Publication: Impacts of EPA’s finalized power plant greenhouse gas standards | Science