The EPA Is Ending Greenhouse Gas Data Collection. Who Will Step Up to Fill the Gap?

The EPA Is Ending Greenhouse Gas Data Collection. Who Will Step Up to Fill the Gap? With the agency no longer collecting emissions data from polluting companies, attention is turning to whether climate NGOs have the tools--and legal right--to fulfill this EPA function. The Environmental Protection Agency announced earlier this month that it would stop making polluting companies report their greenhouse gas emissions to it, eliminating a crucial tool the US uses to track emissions and form climate policy. Climate NGOs say their work could help plug some of the data gap, but they and other experts fear the EPA's work can't be fully matched. "I don't think this system can be fully replaced," says Joseph Goffman, the former assistant administrator at the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation.