The Environmental Protection Agency is abandoning Biden-era rules designed to reduce carbon pollution from power plants, a move that could remove one of the federal government’s most significant tools for limiting greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Monday that the agency was rescinding standards finalized in 2024 for fossil-fuel power generation. The agency is also proposing to block future regulations aimed at controlling power plant carbon emissions, saying the federal government lacks authority to impose them. The announcement came during a G20 ministerial meeting in Houston focused on energy abundance. The timing put the administration’s retreat from power-sector climate regulation at the center of an international gathering where energy policy was a major topic. The 2024 standards applied primarily to existing coal plants and certain new natural-gas plants. Under the rules, many facilities would have needed to capture and permanently store most of their carbon emissions underground or use other measures capable of achieving comparable reductions over time. Zeldin defended the rollback as a response to energy costs and reliability concerns. In a statement, he accused the Obama and Biden administrations of pursuing policies that damaged coal and said the Trump administration would protect what it called affordable and dependable energy. The decision affects a sector with major consequences for public health and the climate. Power plants burn coal and gas to generate electricity, releasing carbon dioxide as well as other pollutants. Communities located near generating stations can face additional exposure to air pollution, while the resulting greenhouse gas emissions contribute to rising temperatures, more extreme weather and other climate risks. The move also reopens a long-running legal and political fight over how far the EPA can go under the Clean Air Act to address climate pollution from power generation. The Biden administration’s standards were built around pollution-control technologies and operating practices that EPA said plants could use to reduce emissions. The Trump administration is disputing the agency’s authority to set such requirements. With the rules withdrawn and a broader proposal under consideration, individual states may face greater pressure to set their own limits on power plant emissions. The federal rollback could also influence investment decisions about whether utilities build new gas generation, keep aging coal plants operating or shift more quickly toward renewable energy and storage.