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Environment and Sustainability

Clean air, clean water and a strong economy go together. Manufacturers lead the world in emissions-reducing innovation and are pressing for environmental rules grounded in the best-available science.

Read More in Competing to Win

Environment & Sustainability

Cleaner air, cleaner water, stronger economy ? manufacturers deliver all three.

Everyone wants clean air and clean water. Everyone wants good jobs and a strong economy. Manufacturers are proving these goals go together ? leading the world in emissions-reducing innovation, investing in water reuse and recycling and pressing for environmental rules grounded in the best-available science so progress and production grow side by side.

$350B
annual regulatory compliance cost shouldered by manufacturers ? 12% of the sector’s GDP contribution
31
EPA regulatory actions under reconsideration after the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø and 100+ manufacturing groups made the case
$500B+
in energy costs saved by ENERGY STAR ? the voluntary program the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø helped preserve and fund
81
associations joined the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s call to rebuild EPA chemical risk assessment on sound science

Sources: 51³Ô¹ÏÍø regulatory rebalancing package (April 2025); EPA reconsideration announcement (March 2025); ENERGY STAR program data cited in the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-led coalition letter (2026); industry coalition letter on the IRIS program (March 2025).

The priorities

Manufacturers’ environment & sustainability agenda

Six priorities for environmental policy that protects public health, rewards innovation and keeps manufacturers in America competitive.

Achievable Air Standards

The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s court challenge led EPA to move to vacate the 2024 PM2.5 standard that threatened expansion in much of the country ? and the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø backs Clean Air Act updates that account for wildfires and emissions from overseas.

Clean Water Certainty

Clear “waters of the United States” definitions that follow the Supreme Court’s Sackett ruling, water-quality certifications that stay on schedule ? and a national partnership scaling industrial water reuse through EPA’s Water Reuse Action Plan.

Science-Based Chemicals Policy

Manufacturers are holding regulators to the intent of the law on TSCA: risk evaluations that reflect real conditions of use and real workplace protections ? and a chemical-assessment program rebuilt on transparent, peer-reviewed science.

A Workable PFAS Framework

Risk-based rules that target genuine exposure concerns, protect mission-critical uses ? the Defense Department says some alternatives are 10?25 years away ? and replace a patchwork of conflicting state, federal and global mandates.

Climate Progress Through Innovation

Manufacturers lead the world in emissions-reducing technology ? and climate policy belongs with elected policymakers, not courtrooms. The Supreme Court took up the climate tort question in 2026 after the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø urged review.

Sustainability in Practice

From ENERGY STAR efficiency and industrial water reuse to battery recycling and critical-minerals recovery, manufacturers are building the circular economy ? and the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø keeps the voluntary programs that power it funded and working.

Results

Rebalanced rules, real environmental progress

Manufacturers’ advocacy is making environmental regulation work ? for public health and for the people who build things in America.

PM2.5 standard vacated
In the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s D.C. Circuit challenge, EPA moved to vacate the 2024 particulate standard that put much of the country out of attainment overnight.
Clean Air Act modernization
The House passed the FIRE, RED Tape and FENCES Acts in April 2026 ? accounting for wildfires, duplicative reviews and foreign emissions.
Water reuse partnership
EPA named the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø an official partner in the Water Reuse Action Plan, leading industry roundtables on scaling recycled water in manufacturing.
Manufacturers “have been shouldering enormous regulatory compliance costs ? nearly $350 billion annually, or 12% of our entire sector’s contribution to the U.S. GDP.” ? Jay Timmons, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø President & CEO, on the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s regulatory rebalancing agenda, April 2025

Sources: EPA motion to vacate the 2024 PM2.5 NAAQS, November 2025 (51³Ô¹ÏÍø v. EPA, D.C. Cir.); U.S. House passage of H.R. 6387, H.R. 6398 and H.R. 6409, April 2026; EPA Water Reuse Action Plan 2.0, April 2026; 51³Ô¹ÏÍø letters to EPA, DOE and DOI, April 2025.

In action

How manufacturers moved environmental policy

  • March 2025EPA announces reconsideration of 31 regulatory actions ? including the PM2.5 standard, power plant rules and WOTUS ? responding to the case made by the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø and more than 100 manufacturing groups.
  • April 2025The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø delivers its regulatory rebalancing package to EPA, DOE and Interior, documenting nearly $350 billion in annual compliance costs and identifying dozens of rules to fix.
  • November 2025EPA moves to vacate the 2024 PM2.5 air standard in the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s D.C. Circuit challenge ? and proposes a Sackett-aligned WOTUS definition reflecting the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s testimony.
  • January?February 2026The House Energy and Commerce Committee advances seven Clean Air Act modernization bills with 51³Ô¹ÏÍø support, and the Supreme Court agrees to hear the climate tort case the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø urged it to review.
  • April 2026The House passes the FIRE, RED Tape and FENCES Acts; EPA launches Water Reuse Action Plan 2.0 with the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø as an official industry partner; PFAS reporting timelines are right-sized after detailed 51³Ô¹ÏÍø comments.
  • May?June 2026The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø files comments on EPA’s PFAS drinking-water proposals and the EU’s universal PFAS restriction, presses for TSCA modernization in both chambers and backs commonsense risk-management updates that keep workers and communities safe.

Environmental progress, made in America

Help the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø advance environmental policies that deliver clean air and water, reward innovation and keep manufacturers competing ? and winning ? in America.

Read More in Competing to Win Get Involved
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