Special report: George Bush's America
Anthony Browne, environment correspondent Sunday July 1, 2001 The Observer
America, the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases, is polluting the planet on a greater scale than ever before. Official figures show its emissions of carbon dioxide - the main contributor to global warming - are accelerating rapidly, while other industrialised countries are cutting their output.
Its output of the gas jumped almost 3 per cent last year, twice the previous rate of growth, and the biggest increase for years, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The US, with just 5 per cent of the world's population, produces a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases.
Robert Williams, of the Princeton University Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, said: 'It's an astonishingly large increase in a single year. The major reason is we don't have a policy to address this problem. We need to have a national target, incentives for business and a regulatory system that will get us to meeting national goals.'
Kate Hampton, climate change co-ordinator for Friends of the Earth International, said: 'This confirms the US as the world's climate change pariah. It has completely failed to do anything to curb its emissions.'
The US sparked fury in Europe and the rest of the world by refusing to ratify the Kyoto protocol which would require it to cut carbon dioxide emissions. President George W. Bush, whose campaign was largely financed by oil companies, said it would harm the US economy. He also reneged on a campaign promise to force power stations to control carbon dioxide emissions.
The US rejection of the Kyoto treaty has thrown the entire international effort to control global warming into doubt. European countries, including the UK and Russia, have said they will ratify the treaty without US participation. However, Japan, Australia and Canada may use it as an excuse not to take part.
The increase in US carbon dioxide emissions is partly because its economy continued to grow, increasing demand for fossil fuels to produce electricity, and average temperatures dropped after several years of warm weather, increasing demand for fossil fuels for heating. However, the energy-hungry lifestyle of Americans, and the fashion for bigger cars, is also a major contribution.
In sharp contrast to the US, many other countries have managed to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide without harming their economies.
China, the world's second-largest generator of greenhouse gases, has reduced its emissions by 17 per cent since the mid-1990s by replacing old coal-fired power plants with more efficient ones. During that period, China's economic output grew 36 per cent.
Britain's emissions have fallen to a 10-year low because it has replaced coal-fired power plants with natural gas plants, which emit less carbon dioxide.