The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the 2023 greenhouse gas data collected under its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. According to the report, direct emissions from large stationary sources decreased by approximately 4% compared to 2022, accounting for around half of the total U.S. emissions.
In 2023, over 8,100 industrial facilities reported their greenhouse gas emissions to the EPA. Power plants were identified as the largest stationary source of these emissions, with 1,320 facilities emitting about 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. Emissions from power plants fell by 7.2% between 2022 and 2023 and have seen a significant decrease of 33.8% since 2011 due to a shift in fuel sources from coal to natural gas.
Petroleum and natural gas systems ranked as the second-largest source of reported emissions, contributing 322 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2023. This figure marks a rise of 1.4% from the previous year and an increase of 16.4% since comparable data collection began in this sector in 2016.
Other major industrial and waste sectors reported combined direct emissions totaling 785 million metric tons in 2023, reflecting a decline of 1.1% from the previous year and a reduction of 10.3% since 2011.
Overall, there has been a decrease of approximately 22% in total reported greenhouse gas emissions from large facilities between 2011 and 2023, primarily driven by reductions in power plant emissions.
The report notes that the data for the reporting year does not yet account for several new rules issued by EPA in early 2024 aimed at reducing methane emissions from oil and gas operations and enhancing data quality.
To facilitate understanding and access to this data, EPA will conduct informational webinars on October 23rd and October 25th focusing on its internet-based greenhouse gas data publication tools.
This marks the fourteenth year that most sectors have participated in data collection under GHGRP as mandated by Congress. The program gathers annual facility-level emission data from key industrial sources such as power plants, oil and gas production sites, iron and steel mills, landfills, along with activity data from upstream fossil fuel suppliers.
Combined reports from direct emitters and upstream suppliers cover between an estimated range of eighty-five to ninety percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. A comprehensive assessment across all economic sectors is available through another EPA document titled "Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks."
