February 26, 2020
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased 3.1% between 2017 and 2018 according to a February 13, 2020 report by E&E News regarding EPA figures published February 12th in the Federal Register.
The jump is the first time in a half-decade that U.S. emissions have gone up — a trend that undercuts efforts by the Trump 
administration to paint its anti-regulatory policies as the right tools to fight climate change. Trump took office in January 2017.
The 3.1% increase in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from Trump’s second year in office was led by an uptick in carbon dioxide from the transportation sector, power generation, industry and other sources. The tally, which always draws on data from two years before, was published February 12th in the Federal Register.
The report is a requirement of U.S. membership in the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change — which will continue after the United States departs the Paris Agreement in November. A final version of the newly released draft document, known as the “Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks,” is due April 15.
The latest figures run counter to past efforts by Trump officials to take credit for previous drops in U.S. emissions.
In October 2018, EPA released preliminary data that showed that carbon dioxide and six other heat-trapping gases had fallen by 2.7% in the first year of President Trump’s term.
The upshot of the EPA figures released recently is that the United States has disclosed to the United Nations a reduction of only 11.5% in planet-warming emissions compared with 2005 levels through 2018. It seems likely to miss the pledge President Obama made at a climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009 — that the United States would cut emissions by 17% by 2020.
What this means to you
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased 3.1% between 2017 and 2018 according to EPA figures published February 12th in the Federal Register. The jump is the first time in a half-decade that U.S. emissions have gone up.
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