U.S. Cities Are Under-Counting Their CO₂ Pollution By Almost 20%
A new national estimate suggests that urban emissions are significantly higher than previously thought, complicating efforts to reduce greenhouse pollution.
About three-quarters of fossil-fuel CO₂ pollution comes from cities.
Photographer: Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Corbis/Getty Images
At least 48 U.S. cities are under-counting their carbon dioxide pollution by nearly 20%, according to a new study that compares local disclosures against a national database that can now estimate the same information. The new analysis could create confusion about how much cities emit—and therefore how much pollution they must cut—at a time of increased attention to climate change from the White House, state capitals, and city officials.
About three-quarters of fossil-fuel CO₂ pollution comes from cities. As populations swell, reducing those emissions becomes even more critical, said Northern Arizona University professor Kevin Gurney and his co-authors in the journal Nature Communications.