January 13, 2003—Total US greenhouse gas emissions, led by the decrease in carbon dioxide, fell by 1.2 percent in 2001—from 1,907 million metric tons of carbon equivalent in 2000 to 1,883 million in 2001, according to a report released by the US Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).
This decline is the largest decrease for the 1990 to 2001 period. Between those years, emissions only declined twice (the other year was 1991). The average annual growth rate of emissions between 1990 and 2000 was 1.3 percent.
EIA attributes the decline in carbon dioxide emissions to a combination of the following factors: A reduction in economic growth from 3.8 percent in 2000 to 0.3 percent in 2001; a 4.4-percent reduction in manufacturing output that lowered industrial emissions; warmer winter weather that decreased the demand for heating fuels; and a drop in electricity demand that reduced the growth in emissions from electricity generation.
