Greenhouse gas emissions by the United States


The United States produced 5.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, the second largest in the world after China and among the worst countries by greenhouse gas emissions per person. Because coal-fired power stations are gradually shutting down, in the 2010s emissions from electricity generation fell to second place behind transportation, which is now the largest single source.

General

The Bush administration opted not to sign the Kyoto Protocol to reduce emissions. The Obama administration attempted to adopt some Kyoto Protocol goals.
The US.State Department offered a nation-level perspective in the Fourth US Climate Action Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including measures to address climate change.

Carbon emissions by categories

The largest source of emissions in 2017 was transportation at 29%, followed by electricity generation at 28% and industry at 22%.

Individual action

Recommended actions individuals can take on climate change include diet, travel alternatives, household energy use, reduced consumption and family size. Individuals can also engage in local and political advocacy around issues of climate change.

Reporting requirement

Since 2011 the USEPA's Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases rule, requires thousands of companies in the US to monitor and report their greenhouse gas emissions.
A detailed inventory of fossil fuel emissions is provided by the Project Vulcan.
In February 2018, an explosion and blowout in a natural gas well in Belmont County, Ohio was detected by the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite's Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument. The well was owned by XTO Energy. About 30 homes were evacuated, and brine and produced water were discharged into streams flowing into the Ohio River. The blowout lasted 20 days, releasing more than 50,000 tons of methane into the atmosphere. The blowout leaked more methane than is discharged by most European nations in a year from their oil and gas industries.

Federal strategies and measures to address greenhouse gases

Cross-sectoral

According to a 2016 study US methane emissions were underestimated by the EPA for at least a decade, by some 30 to 50 percent.
As of 2011, 71% of petroleum consumed in the US was used for transportation.
Programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector:
As of 2010, buildings in the United States consume roughly 48% of the country's electricity and contribute a similar percentage of GHG.

Energy consumption, industrial

Regional initiatives