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Global Warming Reports
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Executive Summary
The early effects of global warming are already evident across the
United States and worldwide. The past nine years have all been among
the 25 warmest for the contiguous United States, a streak unprecedented
in the historical record. If emissions are left unchecked, temperatures
will continue to rise, and the effects of global warming will become
more severe. This report examines trends in U.S. global warming
pollution nationally and by state and concludes that the failure to
limit emissions nationwide has allowed global warming pollution to grow
out of control.
In February 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations body charged with assessing the
scientific record on global warming, found that the evidence of global
warming is “unequivocal” and concluded, with more than 90 percent
certainty, that human activities are responsible for most of the
observed rise in global average temperatures since the mid-20th
century. If current trends in emissions continue, the IPCC projects
that temperatures will increase anywhere from an additional 1.1° to
6.4°C (2° to 11.5°F). The consequences of this increase in global
temperatures will vary from place to place but will include sea level
rise, heat waves, drought, increasingly intense tropical storms, loss
of plant and animal species, decreased crop yields, decreased water
availability, and the spread of infectious diseases.
The United
States is the largest worldwide contributor to global warming,
releasing almost a quarter of the world’s carbon dioxide, the primary
global warming pollutant. Power plants, cars, and light trucks are the
largest U.S. sources of carbon dioxide.
Existing technology
could substantially reduce global warming pollution by making power
plants and factories more efficient, making cars go farther on a gallon
of gasoline, and shifting the country to clean, renewable energy
sources, such as wind and solar power. Unfortunately, the U.S.
government so far has rejected mandatory limits on global warming
pollution, allowing carbon dioxide emissions to rise unabated. Using
the most recent state fossil fuel consumption data from the Department
of Energy, this report examines trends in carbon dioxide emissions
nationally and by state for the 15 years spanning 1990 to 2004. Our
major findings include the following: Carbon dioxide pollution is on
the rise.
• Carbon dioxide pollution from fossil fuel
consumption is on the rise in the United States, increasing by 18
percent between 1990 and 2004.
• Electric power plants and the
transportation sector—particularly cars and light trucks—drove the
increase in emissions nationwide. Between 1990 and 2004, U.S. carbon
dioxide emissions from the electric power sector jumped by 28 percent
and from the transportation sector by almost a quarter (23 percent).
•
Carbon dioxide emissions increased the most in the Southeast, Great
Lakes/Midwest, and Gulf South regions over the 15 year period. The
states experiencing the largest absolute increases in carbon dioxide
emissions between 1990 and 2004 are Texas, Florida, Illinois, North
Carolina, and Georgia. The electric power sector was the primary factor
driving the increase in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions between 1990 and
2004.
• The electric power sector accounted for more than half
(55 percent) of the U.S. emissions increase. Rising electricity demand
from residential, commercial and industrial consumers spurred this
rapid increase in carbon dioxide emissions from the electric power
sector.
• Coal-fired power plants accounted for most of the
increase in carbon dioxide emissions from the electric power
sector.Between 1990 and 2004, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from
coal-fired power plants increased by a quarter, accounting for
three-fourths of the emissions increase in the electric power sector
and 42 percent of the nation’s overall increase in carbon dioxide
emissions.
• The states that experienced the largest absolute
increases in carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants
between 1990 and 2004 are Illinois, Texas, Missouri, North Carolina,
and Indiana.
• Between 1990 and 2004, U.S. carbon dioxide
emissions from natural gas consumption in the electric power sector
increased by more than two thirds (almost 70 percent), accounting for
13 percent of the nation’s overall increase in carbon dioxide emissions.
•
The states that experienced the largest absolute increases in carbon
dioxide emissions from natural gas-fired power plants between 1990 and
2004 are Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, and Nevada. The
transportation sector also played a major role in driving up U.S.
carbon dioxide emissions between 1990 and 2004.
• The
transportation sector accounted for 40 percent of the nation’s overall
increase in carbon dioxide emissions during this time period.
•
Cars and light trucks were responsible for most of the increase in
carbon dioxide emissions from the transportation sector. Between 1990
and 2004, carbon dioxide emissions from motor gasoline consumption
increased by almost a quarter (22 percent), accounting for more than
half of the emissions increase in the transportation sector.
•
The states with the largest absolute increases in carbon dioxide
emissions from motor gasoline consumption between 1990 and 2004 include
Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, and Arizona. The longer we wait to
reduce global warming pollution, the harder the task will be in the
future. Many U.S. states have started taking important steps to cut
global warming pollution within their borders, but the global warming
problem also demands a national solution. Key components of an action
plan to cut global warming pollution include:
• Establishing
mandatory, science-based limits on global warming pollution that reduce
emissions from today’s levels by the end of the decade, by at least
15-20 percent by 2020, and by at least 80 percent by 2050.
•
Reducing our dependence on fossil fuels by making our homes and
businesses more energy efficient, making our cars and SUVs go farther
on a gallon of gasoline, and generating more electricity from renewable
energy sources.
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