Hey....at least its something, lets hope the trend continues.
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US emissions fall
The US Energy Information Administration released its carbon-dioxide emission figures for 2006 this week, revealing a 1.3% drop.
Within hours, the White House issued a statement from President George W. Bush, stating that he was "pleased" to receive the EIA's report.
Bush goes on to say: "Since [2002], we have moved forward with an effective climate change policy that is science-based, encourages research and investment in the technologies needed to solve the problem, and takes advantage of the power of markets.
We are effectively confronting the important challenge of global climate change through regulations, public-private partnerships, incentives, and strong economic investment."
Bush picks up on the EIA's statement that the carbon intensity of the US economy (the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of GDP) fell by 4.5% in 2006. This is in keeping with the current trend, and could be seen to support Bush's claim that his administration is "effectively confronting the important challenge of global climate change through regulations, etc".
But claiming the credit for policies in place since 2002 seems a bit rich given that until 2006 Bush refused to admit any link between human greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. I suspect the gains in carbon efficiency have got more to do with the economy and the high price of oil.
And in fact, the EIA - a federal agency - all but says so itself:
"Factors that drove emissions lower include weather conditions that reduced the demand for heating and cooling services; higher energy prices for natural gas, motor gasoline, and electricity, that reduced energy demand; and the use of a less carbon-intensive fuel mix (more natural gas and non-carbon fuels) in the generation of electricity" (quote from the EIA's report)
So it looks like a warm winter and cool summer - meaning less heating and air-conditioning - plus citizens tightening their purse-strings are stronger forces driving the drop in emissions than "effective climate change policy".
The EIA says:
"Carbon-dioxide emissions from the residential and commercial sectors decreased by 3.7% and 1.0% respectively in 2006."
It will be interesting to see if the trend continues.
http://www.newscientist.com/blog/environment/