alt Hacker NewsThis is awful news.
I mean, presumably some future Democratic administration will reinstate the rule. But with this precedent set, this might become a switch that turns on and off every time the political winds change. When Republicans are in power, the US will do nothing at all to fight climate change. When Democrats are in power, they will belatedly try to undo the damage.
And of course there will be knock-on effects from other countries. Why should (for example) Mexico do anything at all to fight global warming, when the US (which is much richer, and a much larger polluter) declines to help?
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It sucks that Congress don't do their job of making reasonable laws. I hate that the executive and judicial branches have to do so much work that should be done by Congress.
China is building so fast it won’t matter. They destroy 1M barrels a day in global oil consumption for every 24 months they build EVs at current production rates (which continue to increase), for example. ~25% of global light vehicle sales are EVs as of 2025, ~50% in China (the largest auto global auto market). The world is approaching 1TW/year of global solar PV deployment. Solar and storage are the cheapest form of generation, and will only continue to decline in cost.
Consider it a case study in governance failure. The US' failure is China's opportunity, and they appear to be taking it.
Ember Energy: China Cleantech Exports Data Explorer - https://ember-energy.org/data/china-cleantech-exports-data-e... - (updated monthly)
Our World In Data: Tracking global data on electric vehicles - https://ourworldindata.org/electric-car-sales (updated annually)
Bloomberg: China’s Four-Year Energy Spree Has Eclipsed Entire US Power Grid - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-28/china-s-f... | https://archive.today/H0oos - January 28th, 2026
Ember Energy: The EV leapfrog – how emerging markets are driving a global EV boom - https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-ev-leapfrog-how... - December 16th, 2025
Ember Energy: Over a quarter of new cars sold so far this year are electric as emerging markets reshape the global EV race - https://ember-energy.org/latest-updates/over-a-quarter-of-ne... - December 16th, 2025
Ember Energy: Solar electricity every hour of every day is here and it changes everything - https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/solar-electricity-e... - June 21st, 2025
Bloomberg: The World Hit ‘Peak’ Gas-Powered Vehicle Sales — in 2017 - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-30/world-hit... | https://archive.today/p2hl1 - January 30th, 2024
Bloomberg: Electric Cars Pass a Crucial Tipping Point in 23 Countries - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-28/electric-... | https://archive.today/e8XSt - August 27th, 2023
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46544375 (citations)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46423660 (citations)