Carbon dioxide emissions from energy production in the United States in 2012 fell to its lowest level for 20 years.
US government data shows that despite a growing economy and rising population, the pollution figure dropped to 5.29 billion tonnes in 2012 ,its lowest level since 1994.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistics arm of the Department of Energy, said there was a 3.8 per cent drop from the previous year.
That marked the largest decline in a non-recession year since EIA started tracking the data.
The latest decline came amid a large drop in energy intensity, the amount of energy consumed relative to GDP.
“The emissions decline was the largest in a year with positive growth in per capita output and the only year to show a decline where per capita output increased 2 percent or more,” the EIA said.
Energy consumption fell 2.4 per cent in 2012 from 2011 while GDP rose 2.8 per cent.
In addition to reduced energy intensity, carbon dioxide emissions reflected lower residential sector demand for heating after a warmer-than-usual winter in 2012.
Despite US progress, global emissions continue to rise as major developing countries including China and India use more oil and coal to fuel their economic growth.
Worldwide, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, a major cause of global warming, has risen from about 315 parts per million (ppm) in 1960 to 393ppm last month, according to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a private research centre based in California.
In the United States, though, only the recession year of 2009 had a larger emissions decline than 2012.
For the complete EIA emissions report, see: here
