Study Finds Surge in U.S. Emissions of Carbon Dioxide

The United States, previously thought to be making headway in curbing carbon dioxide emissions, produced sharply greater amounts of the gas last year and became an even bigger contributor to the global greenhouse effect, a new analysis concluded Friday.

The study by the prestigious World Resources Institute, an environmental research center, found that carbon dioxide emissions in this country rose significantly faster in 1988 than in 1987 and outpaced the growth rate of the rest of the world for the second year in a row.

“We’re No. 1 in the world by a substantial amount,” said Rafe Pomerance, associate director of the institute. “ . . . global emissions are rising very rapidly and now appear to be returning to higher growth.”

The new findings suggest that efforts by the United States to focus increasing blame for the global warming problem on Third World nations, where the clearing of jungles by controlled burning generates large amounts of carbon dioxide, have misjudged America’s role.

The statistics are expected to intensify demands that the United States cut back on the burning of coal and oil, major sources of airborne carbon dioxide, and could jolt the Bush Administration’s go-slow approach toward a national energy policy.

According to the new research, emissions of carbon dioxide by the United States increased 4.1% last year, compared to a worldwide increase of 3.6%.

Reversal of Trend

The consecutive increases in the U.S. share of overall emissions reversed a trend in which the United States increased its emissions at a lower rate than the rest of the world. The United States contributed 23.7% of worldwide emissions last year, the report showed.

The figures provide the first authoritative measurements of carbon dioxide emissions during 1988. They confirm warnings issued earlier this summer by government scientists from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where research efforts suggested similar increases.

The 3.6% leap in global carbon dioxide emissions was the largest since 1979, the last year before a world energy crisis slowed industrial activity and caused fossil fuel consumption to decline for several years. The 4.1% increase in the United States--the largest since 1984--follows a 2.9% increase in 1987.

The recent increases in carbon dioxide emissions have accelerated concentrations of the gas in the atmosphere, where it combines with other pollutants to form a gaseous shield that traps the heat of the sun as it reflects off the Earth’s surface.

Temperature Rise Possible

The greenhouse effect is considered to be a major cause of a global warming trend that could cause the planet’s average temperature to rise from 4 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit by the middle of the next century, the Environmental Protection Agency warned in a recent report.

Although U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide appear to be rising faster than the world average, the rate of increase in many developing countries is believed to be even faster.

The World Research Institute 1988 analysis, based on raw data gathered by British Petroleum, provides no region-by-region breakdown. But the earlier Oak Ridge National Laboratory study found that the fastest growth in carbon dioxide emissions during 1987 was occurring in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Nevertheless, the United States remains firmly established as the world’s largest producer of the gas and, as a result, the principal contributor to the greenhouse effect.

“This takes away the argument that the U.S. share of the global warming problem is declining,” Pomerance said. “It seems to be getting bigger all the time.”

Alarmed by earlier indications of the increasing U.S. role, a group of senators headed by Timothy E. Wirth (D-Colo.) proposed earlier this year that the United States adopt a national energy policy designed to curb production of the greenhouse gases.

The proposal, endorsed by 21 other senators, seeks to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 20% by the year 2000 through promotion of energy conservation and the use of alternative resources.

At the same time, it urges the secretary of state to convene an international meeting to adopt a binding global treaty aimed at bringing about the same reduction worldwide.

But the Bush Administration, although pledging to draft a comprehensive energy policy of its own, has proceeded cautiously in addressing global warming issues.

Only under bipartisan pressure did it agree last May to be host to an international workshop on global warming later this year as a first step toward a concerted approach to the environmental hazard.

At the time, EPA Administrator William K. Reilly pledged that the United States would give “a very high priority to global warming.”

But the Administration also made clear that it would not support any plan requiring the United States to tackle global warming on its own.