United States · Federal (Congress, EPA, Department of Energy, FERC) · COFOG 04.3

Energy and Climate

This area covers how the United States produces and moves energy, what that emits, and the federal rules that shape both — emission standards, subsidies, permitting, and the transmission grid. It does not cover consumer transport choices, industrial policy for manufacturing, or adaptation to climate damage already locked in.

Where things stand

Emissions had been falling for fifteen years and are now rising again. Energy-related carbon dioxide reached 4,904 million tonnes in 2025, an increase of 115 million tonnes or 2 percent over the year, with every sector contributing. The electric power sector accounted for half of the increase: generation grew 3 percent to a record, coal-fired output rose 13 percent, and power-sector emissions rose 58 million tonnes to 1,485 million. Demand growth from data centres is the driver, and it is reaching households through prices: the residential rate is expected to average 18.02 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2026 against 17.29 cents in 2025. Supply is not keeping up, and the bottleneck is procedural rather than physical — more than 2,060 gigawatts of generation and storage were waiting in interconnection queues at the end of 2025, more than twice the installed capacity of the entire fleet, and most of those projects will be withdrawn before they are built. Federal policy is being rewritten in both directions at once. In February 2026 the Environmental Protection Agency rescinded the 2009 endangerment finding together with every federal greenhouse gas standard for vehicles, effective April 2026 and immediately in litigation. The House passed a permitting bill in December 2025 that would narrow environmental review and shorten the window for legal challenges; the Senate has not acted.

Facts & figures

4,904 Mt

Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions

↗ rising 2%, 115 Mt more than in 2024

1,485 Mt

Emissions from the electric power sector; coal generation rose 13 percent

↗ rising 4%, after two decades of decline

18.02 cents/kWh

Expected average residential electricity price, against 17.29 cents in 2025

↗ rising about 4%, faster than consumer prices

2,060 GW

Generation and storage capacity waiting in interconnection queues

↗ rising, most projects are withdrawn before completion

+3%

Growth in net electricity generation, a record year driven by data centre demand

↗ rising, 119 terawatt hours more than in 2024

April 2026

Effective date of the rescission of the endangerment finding and all federal vehicle greenhouse gas standards

→ in litigation since publication

150 days

Limit on the window for court challenges in the permitting bill the House passed

→ awaiting Senate action since December 2025

Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions 2025 · U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook, electricity end use · Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Queued Up: power plants seeking transmission interconnection · Federal Register, Rescission of the Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and Motor Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards · Congress.gov, H.R. 4776 (SPEED Act) — as of 2025–2026, last reviewed 09/2026

Overview

all proposals on the future scale · click a box → proposal

much
worseworsebalancedbettermuch
better

1× better · 1× worse · 2 on the previous scale (r) Scale: share of runs in which for − against > 0 · Scoring v1.3

Proposals

2 evaluated · sorted by balance

Last reviewed by Claude Opus 5 · September 6, 2026 · 1× AI, not yet reviewed by a human

September 6, 2026AI reviewClaude Opus 5First evaluation
Area created for the English side: definition, situation and key figures researched against official statistics.

Evaluations are produced with AI support and reviewed on a schedule for new developments; human passes are marked separately.How we review →

Evaluated with the Global Debate Evaluation Standard (GDES), Scoring v1.3 · global scale, comparable across areas · How we score →