The US Environmental Protection Agency plans to scrap a program that requires thousands of industrial companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions, saying it imposes unnecessary costs.

"The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality," the agency's administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement.

The EPA said ending the scheme could save US companies up to $2.4 billion in regulatory costs.

Launched in 2010, the program has collected emissions data from about 8,000 of the country's largest industrial sites, including coal plants, refineries, and steel mills.

The United States has the second-highest greenhouse gas emissions after China and, under President Donald Trump, has once again withdrawn from the Paris cli

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