US CO2 emissions from energy declined less than 1% in 2024, compared to 2023, according to new data released by the Energy Information Administration.
Overall CO2 from the three main fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas and coal), plus a few small miscellaneous sources, were at 4772 million metric tons of CO2. Coal use and its associated CO2 continues a declining trend. Natural Gas continues an increasing trend. Petroleum products, which are mainly used for transportation, remain fairly flat with perhaps a slight decreasing trend.
US CO2 emissions from energy, million tonnes Year Petroleum Natural Gas Coal Total 2015 2290 1479 1482 5262 2016 2312 1490 1355 5169 2017 2332 1471 1318 5132 2018 2377 1627 1263 5278 2019 2374 1685 1078 5147 2020 2044 1655 876 4585 2021 2235 1656 1003 4906 2022 2250 1744 939 4940 2023 2251 1760 777 4795 2024 2232 1785 748 4772
While down slightly over the last few years, total CO2 emissions remain above the COVID year of 2020.
Looking at just the electric power sector, we get the following trends…
Total US CO2 emissions from electric power generation
Coal Nat Gas Total
2015 1351 525 1912 million tonnes
2016 1242 545 1820
2017 1207 506 1743
2018 1153 578 1765
2019 974 617 1618
2020 788 635 1450
2021 910 613 1553
2022 851 659 1539
2023 694 704 1421
2024 670 735 1427
The previous presidential administration had a goal of getting to zero CO2 in the electricity sector by 2035. That was never going to happen, but is now even more doubtful.
_ Pete