United States of America Fossil-Fuel CO₂ Emissions

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Based on CO₂ emission estimates from fossil-fuel use and cement production for 2006, the United States is now the world's second largest national source of fossil fuel-related CO₂ emissions behind China with emissions of 1569 million metric tons of carbon. The U.S. has emitted almost 90 billion metric tons of carbon since 1800 from fossil-fuel consumption and cement production. Emissions in 2006 declined slightly (1.5%) from an all-time high in 2005 but have doubled since the 1950s, although the U.S. share of global emissions declined from 44% to 20% over the same interval because of higher growth rates in other countries. Gone are the effects of the oil price shocks in the late 1970s, which had a major impact on U.S. emissions during the early 1980s. Per capita values in excess of 5.0 metric tons of carbon per person (5.18 in 2006) are the highest of the industrialized world and 20% higher than the 1950 level. In 2006, 42% of U.S. fossil-fuel emissions come from the consumption of petroleum products. The United States was completely reliant on coal until after the Industrial Revolution and now coal usage accounts for 37% of U.S. fossil-fuel CO₂ emissions.

Emission estimates for the United States from 1950 to 2006 include emissions from American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Wake Island. Until recently, U.S. energy statistics did not include energy activities in these territories and thus users will find historical emission time series for these entities in the database (e.g., Wake Island 1950-2002).

Estimates of Monthly CO₂ Emissions and Associated ¹³C/¹²C Values from Fossil-Fuel Consumption in the U.S.A.