This US EPA fact sheet presents an overview of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to cut carbon pollution from power plants. The science shows that climate change is already posing risks to our health and our economy. This Clean Power Plan will maintain an affordable, reliable energy system, while cutting pollution and protecting our health and environment now and for future generations.

On June 2, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, proposed a commonsense plan to cut carbon pollution from power plants. The science shows that climate change is already posing risks to our health and our economy. The Clean Power Plan will maintain an affordable, reliable energy system, while cutting pollution and protecting our health and environment now and for future generations.

Our climate is changing, and we’re feeling the dangerous and costly effects right now. Average temperatures have risen in most states since 1901, with seven of the top 10 warmest years on record occurring since 1998. Climate and weather disasters in 2012 cost the American economy more than $100 billion.

Although there are limits at power plants for other pollutants like arsenic and mercury, there are currently no national limits on carbon.Children, the elderly, and the poor are most vulnerable to a range of climate-related health effects, including those related to heat stress, air pollution, extreme weather events, and others.