Greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. stayed stubbornly flat in 2024, as increased gasoline and jet fuel consumption negated falling carbon output in the industrial sector.
Those findings, by the Rhodium Group, contained a mixed bag of results for America’s efforts to green its economy. Wind and solar power collectively generated more electricity than coal for the first time in U.S. history, and emissions from the oil and gas sector declined thanks to lower methane emissions, Rhodium said.
But those trends were offset by growing fossil fuel use in other parts of the economy. Transportation emissions were up 0.8 percent as Americans took to the skies and roads in increasing numbers. Natural gas consumption in the power sector also increased, offsetting a slight decline in coal and negating renewable energy gains. Emissions from buildings were also up slightly, as hot weather increased energy demand.
All told, Rhodium said U.S. emissions were down 0.2 percent from 2023 or roughly 20 percent below 2005 levels, leaving the country with significant ground to make up on its Paris climate commitment. President Joe Biden initially committed to halving U.S. emissions by the end of the decade. He recently revised the pledge to a 61-66 percent reduction from 2005 levels by 2035. Reaching the 2030 target would require annual emissions reductions of 7.6 percent through 2030, “a level the US has not seen outside of a recession in recent memory,” Rhodium wrote in its analysis.
