Thanks Fracking: America Sees Largest Reduction Of Carbon Emissions In The World

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Written By:
Rob Port

Jun 7, 2012
6:42am

Thanks in large part to the shale gas boom, made possible by hydraulic fracturing, America saw the largest reduction in carbon emissions of any country in the world in 2011 (via Mark Perry):

The Americans? Really?

Every year the International Energy Agency (IEA) calculates humanity’s CO2 pollution from burning fossil fuels. And once again, the overall story line is one of ever-increasing emissions:

“Global carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel combustion reached a record high of 31.6 gigatonnes in 2011.”

The world has yet to figure out how to stop the relentless increase in climate pollution. But mixed in with all the bad news there was one shining ray of hope. One of the biggest obstacles to climate action may be shifting. As the IEA highlighted:

“US emissions have now fallen by 430 Mt (7.7%) since 2006, the largest reduction of all countries or regions. This development has arisen from lower oil use in the transport sector … and a substantial shift from coal to gas in the power sector.”

How big is a cut of 430 million tonnes of CO2? It’s equal to all CO2 from all Canadians outside Alberta. From a US perspective, it’s equal to eliminating the combined emissions of ten western states: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada.

It seems the planet’s biggest all-time CO2 polluter is finally reducing its emissions.

Without the Kyoto treaty, without cap and trade and without any sort of a carbon tax America has managed to significantly reduce carbon emissions through the relentless drive for efficiency and profit in a free market environment.

Funny how that works, isn’t it?

I don’t buy global warming hysteria, but this sort of reduction in emissions isn’t a bad thing on its own.

As for America’s status as the “planet’s biggest all-time CO2 polluter,” that’s utter nonsense. China produces far more air pollution than America but is often exempted because it’s a “developing nation.” Also, America’s emissions need to be put in context with American economic output, which also leads the world.