The Supreme Court on Thursday dealt a major blow to climate action by handcuffing the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate planet-warming emissions from the country’s power plants, just as scientists warn the world is running out of time to get the climate crisis under control.
It is a major loss for not only the Biden administration’s climate goals, but it also calls into question the future of federal-level climate action and puts even more pressure on Congress to act to reduce emissions.
Experts tell CNN it could set the US back years on its path to rein in the climate crisis and its deadly, costly impacts.

The opinion makes it “more difficult to achieve larger-scale emissions reductions,” Andres Restrepo, senior attorney for the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program, told CNN. “To avoid the worst impacts of climate change we need to do a lot more and move a lot faster. That’s why today’s ruling is such a setback.”