WASHINGTON – U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from energy and industry plummeted more than 10% in 2020, reaching their lowest levels in at least three decades as the coronavirus pandemic slammed the brakes on the nation's economy, said an estimate published Tuesday by the Rhodium Group.
The steep drop, however, was the result of extraordinary circumstances and experts warned that the country still faced enormous challenges in getting its planet-warming pollution under control. In the years ahead, U.S. emissions are expected to bounce back once the pandemic recedes and the economy rumbles back to life — unless policymakers take stronger action to clean up the country's power plants, factories, cars and trucks.
"The most significant reductions last year were around transportation, which remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels," said Kate Larsen, a director at Rhodium Group, a research and consulting firm. "But as vaccines become more prevalent … we'd expect emissions to rebound."
New York Times
