Greenhouse Gas Emissions Drop

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming fell by 1.2% last year, the largest decrease in a decade, due in part to slow economic growth and a milder winter, the government said.

Last year’s decline was in sharp contrast to the average 1.3% annual growth rate in U.S. emissions from 1990 to 2000, according to a report from the Energy Information Administration. Still, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2001, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, were 11.9% higher than in 1990, the EIA said.