Trump confirms intention to dismantle the Clean Power Plan

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

President-elect Donald Trump has confirmed his intentions to cancel the Clean Power Plan, in a video message outlining his plans for when he takes office in January.

During his election campaign, Trump made several references to his intent to dismantle not only Obama’s Clean Power Plan, but also US involvement with the Paris Climate Agreement and the solar investment tax credit.

His latest message stressed his designs in “putting America first” with promises to “bring back our jobs”.

On day one, Trump said he would cancel any restrictions on US energy production – of which the Clean Power Plan is one. The policy, aimed at fighting anthropogenic climate change, works by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by phasing out coal plants and allowing states to outline their own renewable and emissions reduction targets to reach the overarching goal of reducing carbon emissions by 32% by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.

Therefore, the Plan puts restrictions on coal plants for their harmful emissions which Trump vowed to ressurrect. 

“I will cancel job-killing restrictions on the production of American energy, including shale energy and clean coal, creating many millions of high-paying jobs,” Trump said.

“That's what we want – that's what we've been waiting for.”

For a concerted roll-back on regulations restriction American energy, the real estate tycoon pledged that for every new regulation brought into force, two existing regulations will be eliminated.

21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

Premium
October 13, 2025
Brett Beattie of Castillo Engineering looks at some of the key land grading work that can make multimillion-dollar differences to projects.
October 13, 2025
Korean chemical production firm OCI Holdings has acquired a 65% stake in a Vietnamese solar wafer production plant, intending to export solar wafers to the US.
October 13, 2025
The Trump administration has cancelled the 6.2GW Esmeralda 7 solar project in Nevada – once touted as one of the largest in the world.
October 13, 2025
ANSI has approved a new traceability standard proposed by the SEIA to improve transparency of the solar and storage supply chain.
October 13, 2025
US solar manufacturer T1 Energy has acquired a minority stake in fellow US-based solar cell producer Talon PV.
October 10, 2025
US solar recycling firm OnePlanet has achieved the R2v3 certification from electronics sustainability non-profit SERI, which represents the “highest standards of traceability”.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK