Greenhouse Gas Emissions By The United States
The United States was the largest emitter of carbon dioxide emissions until 2006 when China overtook it. The United States' greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 2012 projections for 2030 by the Department of Energy have dropped 28 percent from its 2007 projections regarding the U.S. energy industry, due to the recession and the hydraulic fracturing boom (natural gas) that has reduced the release of carbon dioxide into the Earth's atmosphere.
While the Bush administration opted against Kyoto-type policies, the Obama administration and various state, local, and regional governments have attempted to adopt some Kyoto Protocol goals on a local basis. For example, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), is a state-level emissions capping and trading program, which was founded on January 18, 2007, by eight northeastern U.S. states.
The White House announced on 2009-11-25 that President Obama is offering a U.S. target for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the range of 17% below 2005 levels by 2020.
The U.S. State Department is offering a nation-level perspective by releasing the Fourth US Climate Action Report (USCAR) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, that includes measures to address climate change. The report shows that the country is on track to achieve President Bush's goal of reducing greenhouse gas intensity (the amount of GHG emissions per unit of gross domestic product) by 18 percent from 2002 to 2012. Over that same period, actual GHG emissions are projected to increase by 11 percent. The report estimates that in 2006, U.S. GHG emissions decreased 1.5 percent from 2005 to 7,075.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. This represents an increase of 15.1 percent from the 1990 levels of 6,146.7 million tonnes (or 0.9 percent annual increase), and an increase of 1.4 percent from the 2000 levels of 6,978.4 million tonnes. By 2012 GHG emissions are projected to increase to more than 7,709 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, which will be 26 percent above 1990 levels.
Read more about Greenhouse Gas Emissions By The United States: 2007, Reduction Target, Strategy and Measures To Address Climate Change, Criticism, Requirements To Report Greenhouse Gas Emissions
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