With EPA's Latest Move, Trump Topples the Last Pillar of Biden's Climate Legacy

Coal is by far the dirtiest of the world's major energy sources. It accounts for almost half of the cumulative global carbon emissions since the industrial era began—as much as oil and natural gas combined. And it generates much more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than either oil or gas. Most climate experts agree that phasing out coal power is the single biggest change the world could make to slow down global warming.

For almost 20 years, the United States has whipsawed on the question of whether the federal government should try to speed up that phaseout. After Barack Obama failed to push a carbon tax through Congress, his administration drafted the "Clean Power Plan," which would have forced electric utilities to cut their emissions by shifting away from coal. President Donald Trump repealed that rule during his first term, and the Supreme Court later said that the president could not unilaterally force utilities to give up the fuel.