CHICAGO—Global warming
pollution in Illinois
increased by 22% between 1990 and 2004, according to The Carbon Boom, a new analysis of state fossil fuel consumption
data released today by Environment Illinois.
This is the first time that 2004 state-by-state data on carbon dioxide
emissions have been released.
“To
head-off the worst impacts of global warming, we need to stabilize and reduce
emissions substantially in the coming years,” said Environment Illinois Field
Organizer David Kanof. “Unfortunately,
in Illinois
and across the country our emissions are rising each year. We need real leadership from our federal and
state officials to reverse this trend.”
Environment
Illinois’s
report comes less than a week after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, a U.N. body charged with assessing the scientific record on global
warming, released its consensus report on the current and projected impacts of
global warming. The report warned of increasing droughts, floods,
heat waves, water stress, forest fires, and coastal flooding in the United
States but
concluded that “many impacts can be avoided, reduced, or delayed” by
quickly and significantly reducing global warming pollution.
Using
data compiled by the U.S. Department of Energy, Environment Illinois’s new report
examines trends in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel consumption between
1990 and 2004, the most recent year for which state-by-state data are
available.
Major
findings of the report include:
- Illinois’s carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel
consumption grew from 191.1 million metric tons to 233.8 million metric
tons between 1990 and 2004, an increase of 22%. Illinois
ranked 3rd nationwide for the largest absolute increase in carbon dioxide
emissions over the 15 year period.
- Nationwide, emissions of
carbon dioxide from fossil fuel consumption increased by 18% between 1990
and 2004. Coal-fired power plants
and the transportation sector—especially cars and SUVs—drove this
emissions increase.
- In Illinois, carbon dioxide emissions from
coal-fired power plants jumped by 64% between 1990 and 2004, rising from 55.7
million metric tons to 91.5 million metric tons. Illinois
ranked 1st nationwide for the largest absolute increase in
carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants over the 15 year
period.
“The good
news is that we have the technology at our fingertips to cut global warming
pollution and forge a cleaner, more secure energy future,” said Kanof.
In January, Environment Illinois
released its global warming Blueprint for Action, which calculated that we
could achieve a 25% reduction in global warming pollution from Illinois sources by 2025
using a combination of clean car standards, renewable energy, and energy
efficiency. That Blueprint is available at
www.EnvironmentIllinois.org/Blueprint.
Subsequently, Governor Blagojevich set a state goal of reducing emission
to 1990 levels by 2020 and has initiated an advisory group to devise a plan to
meet the goal.
“The Governor has set a good
target for emission reductions, and now we need to make sure it is more than
simply an aspiration, by setting mandatory standards for global warming
emissions as other states have done,” said Kanof.
Environment
Illinois is
working to advance the same solutions at the federal level. The Safe Climate
Act (H.R. 1590), introduced by Representative Henry Waxman (CA) in the House,
and the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act (S. 309), introduced by Senators
Bernie Sanders (VT) and Barbara Boxer (CA) in the Senate, would limit global
warming pollution to levels that current science says are needed to prevent the
worst effects of global warming. The bills
would freeze U.S.
global warming emissions in 2010 and reduce emissions by about 15% by 2020 and by
80% by 2050.
“To
protect future generations, our leaders must take decisive action to cut global
warming pollution. Environment Illinois calls
on Representative Tim Johnson to co-sponsor the only bill that does what
scientists say we need to do—the Safe Climate Act concluded Kanof.
