U.S. carbon dioxide emissions declined 4 percent in 2012 from 2011 levels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported today. U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are lower now than at any point since 1994, and are 10 percent lower than emissions at the end of the Clinton-Gore administration in 2000.
Despite the sharp decline in U.S. carbon dioxide emission, global emissions continue to rise. Global emissions are approximately 33 percent above 2000 levels, with China and India accounting for more than 80 percent of the global emissions increase.
Environmental activist proposals to impose more stringent, binding restrictions on U.S. carbon dioxide emissions allow China, India, and other developing nations to continue increasing their emissions. China by a large margin emits more carbon dioxide than any other nation, and currently emits more carbon dioxide than all nations in the Western Hemisphere combined.
