U.S. cut climate pollution in 2023, but not fast enough to limit global warming

Jan. 10, 2024

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Last year was the hottest on record, and globally, countries continue to emit the greenhouse gases that are warming the climate. In 2023, the U.S. did manage to cut its emissions nearly 2%. That is still not enough to meet the country's climate goals, but it did happen despite a growing economy. Jeff Brady from NPR's climate desk is here. Hey, Jeff.

JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Hi there.

KELLY: Explain why that is important - that it's important that the economy grew, but emissions went down.

BRADY: Well, the economies of wealthy countries like the U.S., for many decades, were closely tied to burning fossil fuels like coal and oil - those fuels that are warming the planet. And up until just a few years ago, in the U.S., a better economy meant more fossil fuel consumption. The fact that those two are decoupling, that growth can happen without using more fossil fuels, shows that the country can potentially address climate change without a lot of economic pain.

KELLY: And share some more details of what happened last year and why - of how U.S. emissions did drop about 2%.

BRADY: Right, 1.9% exactly. That's mostly because the country is moving away from dirty energy sources to cleaner ones. That's according to Ben King with the research firm Rhodium Group.

BEN KING: The biggest contributor that we saw to the emission decline in 2023 was a rather significant drop in coal in the power sector. That coal is getting replaced by a combination of natural gas as well as renewables - so wind, solar and the like.

BRADY: Because of that transition away from coal, King says emissions from power plants dropped 8% last year. Now, switching to emissions from heating and cooling buildings - those fell 4%. A big reason is that last winter was pretty mild, so people didn't use much heat. And there are a few sectors where emissions increased. Transportation was up a little more than a percent and a half because more people traveled by air. And industrial emissions were up about a percent mostly because of more oil and gas drilling.

KELLY: So a mixed picture, it sounds like. But focusing on the headline - that emissions were down 1.9% - considering this, I mean, how is the U.S. doing on combating climate change?

BRADY: Well, of course, every little bit helps, but it's not enough to meet U.S. commitments under the Paris climate agreement. And, of course, that agreement aims to avoid the worst effects of a warming climate. The Biden administration set a goal of cutting emissions in half based on 2005 levels by 2030, so that's a 50% reduction in just six years from now. Right now, the country is less than halfway to that goal. Rhodium says, to meet it, the U.S. would have to triple the rate of greenhouse gas reductions.

KELLY: Triple the rate - just briefly, is that even possible?

BRADY: Well, the U.S. has passed some big climate legislation. The Inflation Reduction Act in 2021 commits tens of billions of dollars to cleaner forms of energy, reducing greenhouse gases. Rhodium says that's not showing up in emissions reductions yet, but they've modeled it out to the future, and they do see that it could almost get there. But we still have that bigger target sitting out there of zeroing out all emissions by 2050.

KELLY: All righty. Thank you, Jeff.

BRADY: Thank you.

KELLY: Jeff Brady from NPR's climate desk.

[Top photo: The James H. Miller Jr. Electric Generating Plant in Adamsville, Alabama is a coal-fired facility. In 2023 U.S. greenhouse gas emissions declined 1.9% because less of the country's electricity came from plants like this one.  Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images]