The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week announced plans to roll back dozens of climate and environmental regulations from the Biden era, including rules that would help shift the country to electric vehicles, limit emissions from power plants and protect waterways from pollution.

“Taken together, the announcements herald a seismic shift in U.S. environmental policy, one that could ease restrictions on nearly every sector of the economy,” The Washington Post reported. It’s likely to take months or even years for the agency to rewrite many of the targeted regulations, according to news reports.

In a news release, the EPA said the moves would help “unleash American energy, lower cost of living for Americans, revitalize the American auto industry, restore the rule of law and give power back to states to make their own decisions.”

Lee Zeldin, EPA administrator, called the announcement “the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen.”

“We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion,” he added.

Zeldin also said the EPA would consider upending its own so-called endangerment finding – a 2009 legal decision that says greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane are warming the planet, posing a threat to public health and welfare, NBC News reported. That finding has been central to EPA regulations about greenhouse gas pollution under the Clean Air Act.

Environmental advocates expressed anger about the breadth of the announcement. “There have been attempts to limit the authority of the EPA, but the scale and scope and speed with which this administration is attacking environmental safeguards is unprecedented,” Jason Rylander, legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, told NBC News.

In the promotional products industry, sustainability leaders shared disappointment in the EPA rollbacks. “They send the wrong message at a time when businesses and consumers are pushing for more – not less – accountability in sustainability,” said Ben Grossman, co-president of Grossman Marketing Group (asi/215205), founder of SwagCycle and a member of Counselor’s Power 50 and the Promo for the Planet Editorial Advisory Board.

Andy Keller, CEO of ChicoBag (asi/44811) and another Promo for the Planet board member, noted too that “National policy is critical to help keep business decisions that benefit a relative few from negatively and irreparably impacting the majority, especially future generations.”

He added: “It’s important to remember that the EPA was created to address and prevent the impacts of irresponsible or uninformed businesses’ decisions that resulted in Superfund sites, rivers on fire and similar calamities.”

Still, neither Keller nor Grossman believe the decision will dampen the broader sustainability movement. “Companies have already made sustainability a priority because it’s what their customers, employees and investors expect – not just because of government regulations,” Grossman said. “For the promotional products industry, this shift won’t change the fact that clients are demanding more transparency, better materials and real end-of-life solutions for products. If anything, it’s a reminder that businesses need to take ownership of their sustainability efforts instead of waiting for policies to dictate the pace.”

Other impacts to consider, however, are how the EPA’s deregulation may affect branded merch requirements of various industries tied to sustainability concerns. “Certainly,” Keller added, “the electric car industry, NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] and other segments of our business will see changes to their marketing and promotions efforts as a result of this rollback.”

Promo for the Planet is your destination for the latest news, biggest trends and best ideas to help build a more sustainable and socially-responsible industry.