EPA admits new coal regulations won't reduce global warming An Environmental Protection Agency proposal designed to reduce CO2 emissions and reduce global warming will actually have no "notable CO2 emission changes." So a rule that will essentially ban new coal-fired power plants will actually have no impact on global warming. "The EPA does not anticipate that this proposed rule will result in notable CO2 emission changes, energy impacts, monetized benefits, costs, or economic impacts by 2022," the EPA writes under the comments section of its proposal. The EPA also admits that "the owners of newly built electric generating units will likely choose technologies that meet these standards even in the absence of this proposal due to existing economic conditions as normal business practice."