The U.S. Supreme Court denied eight emergency applications for immediate stay of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency final rule establishing new greenhouse gas emissions standards and guidelines for new and existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units. Justice Thomas would have granted the stay. Justice Alito did not participate in the consideration or decision of the applications. Justice Kavanaugh, joined by Justice Gorsuch, wrote a statement indicating that in his view, “the applicants have shown a strong likelihood of success on the merits as to at least some of their challenges” but that they were unlikely to suffer irreparable harm before the D.C. Circuit decided the merits because compliance work was not required until June 2025.

Challenge to final rule repealing the Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy Rule and establishing new greenhouse gas emissions standards and guidelines for new and existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units.

West Virginia v. EPA

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Supreme Court Declined to Stay EPA Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Power Plants

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

Supreme Court Declined to Stay EPA Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Power Plants

Economic sector