EPA Will Now Let Big Polluters Stop Reporting CO2/Methane Output, But Satellites Are Already Tracking The Data

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Currently, the federal government requires companies to measure their output of heat-trapping pollution and report it to the EPA. But in a March 2025 press release, the EPA said that reporting greenhouse gases is burdensome, and EPA Administrator Lee Zelden said the requirements to document climate-warming pollution hurt “the ability to achieve the American dream.” So the EPA may eventually allow facilities like power plants or oil refineries to stop reporting how much climate pollution they’re emitting.

But polluters still won’t be able to escape scrutiny. At this very moment, instruments on board satellites, airplanes, and the International Space Station are steadfastly measuring plumes of methane and carbon dioxide drifting from power plants, refineries, and pipelines. These programs have been operating for years but aren’t widely known. This article is the first in a series that will showcase the instruments, highlight their top-level findings, and illustrate how anyone can use these tools to become a climate sleuth.

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Carbon Mapper is a nonprofit organization that aims to make emissions data easily accessible so it can help drive action to reduce climate pollution. The group brings together funding from philanthropists with engineering from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planet Labs, and others. (Full disclosure: The author of this article is a contractor with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.) Carbon Mapper operates its own satellite with a second one in development. Carbon Mapper’s data portal combines data from five different sources into a user-friendly mapping tool that displays plumes of CO2 and methane in intricate detail. The map is intuitive to use and offers a satisfying level of detail for those who want to drill down into the specifics.

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EMIT is a NASA instrument on the International Space Station that was originally designed to measure how wind-borne dust might warm or cool the climate. But it also turns out to be really good at finding methane. Within its first few months of operation, the instrument had found some of the largest releases of methane ever measured. The mission initially pinpointed over 50 super-emitters, many coming from oil and gas operations or landfills. The list of methane plumes has only expanded since then.

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Ed. - Also, ESA, Japanese and private satellite data sources listed in some detail in the article.

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/08/climate-polluters-may-be-allowed-to-stop-reporting-their-emissions-that-doesnt-mean-they-can-hide-them/