CO2 Emissions From Energy Production Drop to 1994 Levels in the US
From Grist
By Philip Bump
The headline at The Guardian says almost everything you need to know: U.S. carbon emissions fall to lowest levels since 1994.
Carbon dioxide emissions fell by 13% in the past five years, because of new energy-saving technologies and a doubling in the take-up of renewable energy, the report compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance for the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) [PDF] said.
The reduction in climate pollution — even as Congress failed to act on climate change — brings America more than halfway towards Barack Obama’s target of cutting emissions by 17% from 2005 levels over the next decade, the Bloomberg analysts said.
By the end of last year, America’s emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions had fallen 10.7% from the 2005 baselines.
The caveat: The carbon emissions discussed are those related to energy production. Energy production isn’t all CO2 emission, but it’s a lot of it.
So here’s what that reduction looks like. Since 1974, levels of energy-related carbon emissions have seen two peaks. As indicated above, we’re on a downward trend, something David Roberts explained last year.
