Shift Key with Robinson Meyer and Jesse Jenkins

Trump’s Move to Kill the Clean Air Act’s Climate Authority, Forever

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Aug 6, 2025

Jody Freeman, Archibald Cox Professor of Law at Harvard and architect of the Obama administration's landmark auto emissions deal, joins a discussion about the Trump administration's controversial declaration that carbon dioxide is not a dangerous pollutant. They explore its potential to dismantle regulations on greenhouse gases and analyze the implications for U.S. climate policy. Freeman critiques the legal and scientific basis of this move and highlights the historical context of bipartisan climate efforts, emphasizing the need for a unified approach to tackle climate challenges.

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INSIGHT

Endangerment Finding's Legal Importance

The 2009 EPA endangerment finding declared greenhouse gases as pollutants causing harm, enabling their regulation under the Clean Air Act.
Rescinding this finding would undermine the legal foundation for all U.S. federal greenhouse gas emission rules.

INSIGHT

EPA's New Legal Arguments

The Trump EPA argues greenhouse gases from the U.S. do not significantly contribute to dangerous air pollution globally, thus not qualifying as local pollutants.
They also claim causation to climate harms is too remote, and the pollutants are therefore not dangerous under the Clean Air Act.

INSIGHT

Backup Climate Science Denial

The administration's backup argument questions mainstream climate science, arguing climate change impacts are overstated or even net beneficial.
This argument relies on selective, debunked studies and is seen as largely symbolic rather than legally compelling.

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The Trump administration has formally declared that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are not dangerous pollutants. If the president gets his way, then the Environmental Protection Agency may soon surrender any ability to regulate heat-trapping pollution from cars and trucks, power plants, and factories — in ways that a future Democratic president potentially could not reverse.

On this week’s episode of Shift Key, we discuss whether Trump’s EPA gambit will work, the arguments that the administration is using, and what it could mean for the future of U.S. climate and energy policy. We’re joined by Jody Freeman, the Archibald Cox Professor of Law at Harvard and the director of Harvard’s environmental and energy law program. She was an architect of the Obama administration’s landmark deal with automakers to accept carbon dioxide regulations.

Shift Key is hosted by Jesse Jenkins, a professor of energy systems engineering at Princeton University, and Robinson Meyer, Heatmap’s executive editor.

Mentioned:

The EPA Says Carbon Pollution Isn’t Dangerous. What Comes Next?

The EPA on its reconsideration of the endangerment finding

Jody’s story on the change: Trump’s EPA proposes to end the U.S. fight against climate change

Jesse’s upshift (and accompanying video); Rob’s sort of upshift.

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Music for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow.

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