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Carbon credits and credit trading over the years have driven industry in the US to "cleanup" their industry. 20+ years ago, environmental stewardship was very low on industry goals/improvements. Now, after a few decades, industry recognizes the value of improving efficiency, ESG, etc. as there is real cost saving plus shareholders are demanding clean business.
Industry has a vested interest in fighting environmental regulations as the regs often impact their front end profitability. Decades ago industry fought damn hard against catalytic converters, arguing that they won't work and will greatly impact vehicle performance and reliability, will cost industry and buyers too much, and do little to cleanup the environment. The first few years of implementation were rough, but after that, the technology proved it's worth on all fronts.
EPA doesn't just pull these regulations out of a hat. They spend years researching, analyzing, talking to experts/scientists, industry, etc. to determine what industry can handle and the environmental improvement. We should always be moving towards a sustainability, reduction, etc. EPA is far from perfect, but they are very much needed as industry has proven time after time that they are most focused on profits and the short-term.
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The forest was shrinking, but the Trees kept voting for the Axe, for the Axe was clever and convinced the Trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them.
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