EPA to Scrap Landmark U.S. Emissions Policy in Major Regulatory Rollback
In a significant development for climate policy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to eliminate a landmark emissions regulation, marking one of the most substantial environmental rollbacks in recent years. This decision comes as international climate dynamics shift, with China's emissions beginning to show measurable decline for the first time.
Weekly Climate News Roundup: February 9-15, 2026
This week's climate and biodiversity news spans from local British Columbia concerns to global scientific assessments. The developments highlight both setbacks and progress in addressing the climate emergency that continues to intensify worldwide.
Legal Challenges and Policy Shifts
In British Columbia, environmental organizations have initiated legal proceedings against the federal government, alleging failure to adequately protect southern mountain caribou populations. This lawsuit represents growing tensions between conservation efforts and governmental environmental stewardship.
Meanwhile, the EPA's decision to dismantle a crucial U.S. emissions policy represents a dramatic reversal in American climate regulation. This move occurs simultaneously with reports indicating that China's carbon emissions have started to decrease, creating a complex international climate policy landscape where traditional roles appear to be shifting.
The Science Behind Climate Change
According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, human activities including fossil fuel combustion and intensive livestock farming remain the primary drivers of climate change. These activities increase heat-trapping greenhouse gas concentrations in Earth's atmosphere, elevating global surface temperatures with profound consequences.
The international scientific panel, which includes researchers from British Columbia, has issued repeated warnings over decades that climate change would intensify extreme weather events. Their assessments have proven accurate, with British Columbia experiencing deadly heat domes and catastrophic flooding in 2021 that scientists attribute directly to climate change.
Current Atmospheric Conditions
As of February 5, 2026, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations reached 428.62 parts per million, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. This represents an increase from 427.49 ppm the previous month and 426.46 ppm in December 2025.
NASA climate scientists report that human activities have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide by 50 percent in less than two centuries, creating what they describe as unequivocal evidence of unprecedented planetary warming. The NOAA data reveals a steady upward trajectory in CO2 concentrations since measurements began in 1960, when levels remained below 320 parts per million.
Critical Climate Data Points
- The global average temperature in 2023 reached 1.48°C above pre-industrial levels, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service. In 2024, temperatures breached the critical 1.5°C threshold, reaching 1.55°C above pre-industrial averages.
- 2025 marked the third warmest year on record, following 2024 and 2023, completing eleven consecutive years of record-breaking global temperatures.
- Human activities have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations by approximately 49 percent above pre-industrial levels since 1850.
- The world remains off-track to meet Paris Agreement targets limiting global temperature increases to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the threshold scientists identify as crucial to avoiding the most severe climate impacts including sea level rise, intensified droughts, heat waves, and wildfires.
- The United Nations Environment Programme's 2025 Emissions Gap Report indicates that even if nations fulfill current emissions reduction commitments, global temperatures could still rise between 2.3°C and 2.5°C this century.
- In June 2025, global carbon dioxide concentrations exceeded 430 parts per million, establishing a new record high.
- There exists overwhelming global scientific consensus that climate change is occurring and that human activities represent the primary cause.
Regional Climate Impacts
British Columbia continues to experience direct climate consequences, with warmer than normal winter conditions leaving Metro Vancouver's mountains with significantly reduced snowpack. This environmental shift affects water resources, winter recreation, and ecosystem stability throughout the region.
The IPCC has issued what it describes as a code red for humanity, warning that the window to limit warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is rapidly closing. Their assessment emphasizes that wildfires and severe weather events will become increasingly frequent and intense as the climate emergency progresses.
