Greenhouse gas emissions jumped in 2021, despite Biden’s climate pledges
After falling more sharply than at any point since World War II in 2020, US greenhouse gas emissions rebounded from the pandemic in 2021 — likely growing faster than the nation’s economy did last year, according to a preliminary analysis by research firm Rhodium Group. The rise in planet-heating pollution risks putting the US’s climate goals further out of reach, Rhodium warns.
Greenhouse gas emissions rose 6.2 percent last year compared to 2020, Rhodium found. That’s slightly higher than initial estimates for economic growth in 2021: a 5.7 percent rise in GDP, according to Goldman Sachs. It’s the latest evidence that as countries return to their old, polluting habits, the pandemic will do little to slow down climate change in the...