US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Fell in 2023 After Rising for Two Years

(Bloomberg) -- US greenhouse gas emissions declined 1.9% last year compared to the year before — the first time since before the Covid-19 pandemic that emissions went down while the nation’s economy grew, according to a new analysis by the Rhodium Group, a research firm.

Driving the downward trend were reductions in the power sector (8%) and buildings sector (4%), due in part to the continuing decline of coal as a fuel. Coal generated 17% of US power in 2023, a record low, the report says, with nuclear power surpassing it for only the second time in US history. A mild winter also eased fuel demand and led to lower emissions from buildings.

Transportation, the country’s highest-emitting sector, saw a 1.6% increase due to a rebound in jet fuel consumption, with more people traveling after the pandemic. Industrial emissions rose by 1%.

The report is based on preliminary economic and energy data that the Environmental Protection Agency will finalize in 2025.

The year-on-year decline shows moderate yet positive movement on decarbonization, Rhodium analysts say. US emissions last year were 17.5% below 2005 levels. But the country needs to triple its rate of progress to meet President Joe Biden’s goal, in line with the Paris Agreement, of cutting emissions to 50% below 2005 levels by 2030.

Biden’s signature climate law — 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act — and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 are expected to ramp up decarbonization with policies like electric vehicle and hydrogen production tax credits. But the report says it is too early to determine whether the laws will have the impacts projected.

The deadline for meeting the Paris Agreement target “is rapidly approaching, and achievement of that goal looks ever more challenging absent a major policy push,” the report says. 

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