Despite a record number of coal-fired power plants being retired last year, carbon emissions in the United States rose 3.4 percent during 2018. This is the biggest increase in eight years, according to the New York Times. Even though U.S. emissions resulting from the use of fossil fuels declined because of the rise of natural gas and renewable energy, the drop could not keep pace with a rise in emissions resulting from overall growth throughout the U.S. economy. Demand for electricity surged due to economic growth, and increased use of natural gas outpaced the growth in use of renewable energy sources to meet that demand. As a result, even though the number of coal-fired power plants declined, overall emissions from power generation still grew 1.9 percent.
Further, as reported by CNN, the transportation sector was the largest source of emissions for the third year in a row. As the economy grew, so did emissions from planes and trucks. Although there was a modest decline in use of gasoline, perhaps due to the success of fuel economy standards, this was more than offset by an increase in demand for jet and diesel fuel. Similarly, the U.S. manufacturing sector prospered, meaning increased emissions of 5.7 percent from industrial sectors like chemicals, steel, and refineries. There are few policies in place to address a generalized increase in emissions from transportation and industry due to economic growth.
The U.S. government released its Fourth National Climate Assessment late in 2018, documenting increased extreme weather events and predicting annual losses of hundreds of billions of dollars to sectors of the U.S. economy, as well as extinctions, continued damage to ecosystems, reduced availability of clean, fresh water and declines in food production. The report stressed that the severity of future impacts depends greatly on the decisions and actions taken now. The latest research highlights the need to develop new strategies to deal with carbon emissions, especially in the context of record high levels of emissions worldwide.
