Dan Lashof, Program Director, Climate & Clean Air, Washington, D.C.

Carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels in the United States have fallen by almost 9 percent since 2005, while the economy expanded by more than 5 percent. The forecast for 2020 assuming a continuation of current policies is that emissions will be about 10 percent below 2005 levels, in sharp contrast to the 25 percent increase forecast a few years ago. That puts the 17 percent reduction target embraced by President Obama squarely within reach.

These are the key findings of an issue brief published by NRDC today. I have posted previously on the incredible shrinking carbon pollution forecast. Earlier this week Dave Roberts at Grist posted a nice commentary on the recent declines in U.S. emissions and my colleague Ralph Cavanagh recently posted on the unexpectedly good news regarding energy trends. Today’s issue brief pulls together information on recent emission trends and the current forecast in one place, and offers some insights into what’s going on.

Figure 2 in the issue brief reveals that almost half of the emission reductions from 2005 to 2011 came from power plants, followed by the transportation sector at a little more ...

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