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Global Warming Reports
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Executive Summary
America’s reliance on fossil fuels—oil,
coal and natural gas—for energy
creates a host of problems, including
air and water pollution, global warming
pollution, high and unpredictable bills for
consumers and businesses, and the need to
import oil from unstable parts of the world.
Moving to clean energy—such as solar
and wind power, more efficient homes,
and plug-in cars—will cut pollution, help
rebuild our economy, and reduce America’s
dependence on oil.
For decades, America’s use of fossil fuels—
and the global warming pollution that
results—has been on the rise nationally and
in states across the country. But this trend
is starting to change in some states—in
part because of the move to clean energy.
Following the lead of those states will start
to put the United States on a path to lower
global warming emissions and help drive
the creation of a clean energy economy.
This report analyzes the most recent
data available from the federal Department
of Energy to calculate emissions of carbon
dioxide from the use of oil, coal and natural
gas at the national and state level from 1990
to 2007. Our analysis finds that:
Emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading
global warming pollutant, from
fossil fuel consumption increased by
19 percent in the United States from
1990 to 2007. Nationally, the rate of
emissions growth has slowed in recent
years, and emissions peaked in many
states in 2004 and 2005.
Seventeen states saw declines in carbon
dioxide emissions from fossil fuel
use between 2004 and 2007.
Those emission reductions—while far
short of what will be needed to address the
threat of global warming—could be a sign
of a new trend, particularly if the United
States adopts strong policies to move the
nation toward a clean energy future.
States that are highly reliant on
coal-fired power plants, have energy intensive
industries, and/or have high
levels of pollution from cars and trucks
tend to produce the most carbon dioxide
pollution from fossil fuel use.
• Texas remained the nation’s number
Too Much Pollution
one emitter of carbon dioxide from
fossil fuel use in 2007, followed by
California, Pennsylvania, Ohio and
Florida.
• Wyoming produced the most carbon
dioxide pollution per capita, followed
by North Dakota, West Virginia,
Alaska and Louisiana. Rhode Island
produced the least carbon dioxide per
capita in 2007, followed by New York,
Vermont, Idaho and California.
• Electricity generation and transportation
are by far the largest sources
of carbon dioxide emissions in the
United States, responsible for 40
percent and 33 percent of fossil fuel-related
emissions, respectively, in
2007. Power plants and transportation
were also the fastest-growing sources
of emissions between 1990 and 2007.
Nationally, the rate of growth in
carbon dioxide pollution has slowed but
emissions still remain above the levels
of two decades ago and well above the
levels needed to prevent the worst impacts
of global warming.
• Between 2000 and 2007, emissions of
carbon dioxide from fossil fuel consumption
increased at one-fifth the
rate they did during the 1990s.
• Carbon dioxide emissions are estimated
to have declined by 2.8 percent in
2008 (to their lowest level since 2001)
and are projected to fall still farther in
2009, due to high oil prices in 2008,
the recession, and the declining carbon
intensity of the economy.
• However, these emission reductions
are far from the roughly 35 percent
cut in global warming emissions the
United States must make by 2020
in order to do our share to avert the
worst impacts of global warming.
Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil
fuel use are declining in a growing number
of states as they invest in the clean,
renewable technologies that are part of
a new energy future. Emissions remain
on the rise in other states that have not
eased their reliance on dirty fuels.
• Four Northeastern states—Connecticut,
Delaware, Massachusetts
and New York—emitted less carbon
dioxide from fossil fuel consumption
in 2007 than they did in 1990. Since
1997, gross state product in these four
states increased by 65 percent while
carbon dioxide emissions decreased by
5 percent.
• Seventeen states and the District of
Columbia have seen total emissions
decline since 2004, a year of peak
emissions for many states. Maine
saw the largest percentage decline
over this period, while New York and
Texas—the nation’s eighth-highest
and highest emitters of carbon
dioxide, respectively—saw the greatest
absolute declines.
• Still, emissions in 33 states increased
between 2004 and 2007. Emissions in
Oklahoma saw the greatest percentage
increase, followed by Montana
and Hawaii. Oklahoma and Georgia
experienced the greatest increase in
absolute terms.
The experiences of states that have
reduced carbon dioxide emissions, or
have low per capita emissions, have
lessons for how the nation can reshape
its energy system and reduce emissions
in the future.
• Many northeastern states have reduced
carbon dioxide emissions from
electric power plants by switching
from polluting (and expensive) oil to
cleaner natural gas. Texas, meanwhile,
has led the nation in wind energy
installations, helping to stabilize
emissions from its power sector.
These states show that switching from
highly polluting fuels such as coal
and oil to cleaner sources of power,
including renewable energy, can lead
to rapid and substantial reductions in
emissions.
• Washington and Oregon are the only
two states in which the number of
vehicle-miles traveled on highways
per capita declined between 1990 and
2007—leading to significant reductions
in per capita emissions from
gasoline use in both states. Both states
are noted for their leadership in promoting
“smart growth” and both have
experienced strong increases in transit
ridership, suggesting that states that
provide transportation alternatives
to reduce reliance on fossil fuels can
reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
• States that have made investments in
improving the energy efficiency of
their economies tend to produce fewer
carbon dioxide emissions, suggesting
that energy efficiency can be a critical
tool in efforts to address global warming
at the same time it creates jobs
locally.
Creating a new energy future and
achieving the carbon dioxide emission
reductions necessary to avoid the worst
impacts of global warming will require
strong action at the federal and state
levels, including:
• Science-based limits on global warming
pollution from the American
economy, with the goal of reducing
U.S. emissions by 35 percent below
2005 levels by 2020 and at least 80
percent below 2005 levels by 2050.
A cap on overall pollution must be
paired with strong emission standards
for vehicles, coal-fired power plants,
and other large sources to ensure that
America moves to clean energy and
can achieve ambitious science-based
pollution-reduction goals.
• Renewable electricity standards that
would ensure that the United States
receives at least 25 percent of its electricity
from clean, renewable sources
of energy by 2025—reducing the need
for continued dependence on highpolluting
fossil fuels.
• Policies to improve the energy efficiency
of our homes, businesses and
factories, including strong building
codes and appliance efficiency standards,
as well as funding for efforts to
retrofit existing buildings to achieve
greater energy efficiency.
• Greater investment in transportation
alternatives, including high-speed rail
and modern public transportation, as
well as efforts to reduce the carbon
intensity of transportation fuels and
improve the fuel economy of vehicles.
These and other measures to cut carbon
dioxide emissions are essential to limiting
the effects of global warming and will help
shift the U.S. economy away from its reliance
on dirty and expensive fossil fuels and
toward a clean energy economy.
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