US carbon emissions fell in 2006 despite growing economy

May 24, 2007, 4:30 GMT

Washington - US carbon-dioxide emissions declined by 1.3 per cent in 2006 even as the world's largest economy expanded by 3.3 per cent, the White House announced late Wednesday.

The US Energy Information Administration issued a so-called flash estimate of carbon-dioxide emissions that showed a decline of 78 million metric tons last year in the United States.

In a statement, US President George W Bush touted the report as validating his energy and climate-change policies. He called in 2002 for the US to reduce so-called greenhouse-gas intensity ­ or emissions per unit of gross domestic product ­ by 18 per cent within a decade.

The 2006 emissions report shows a decline of 4.5 per cent in carbon-dioxide intensity, the largest one-year drop since 1990, 'putting us well ahead of what is needed annually to meet my greenhouse-gas intensity reduction goal ... by 2012,' Bush said.

'We are effectively confronting the important challenge of global climate change through regulations, public-private partnerships, incentives, and strong economic investment,' Bush said.

Bush has been widely criticized by other governments for withdrawing the US from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which was never ratified by the US Senate.

A recent United Nations conference found that manmade factors were likely a strong and growing factor in global climate change, taking a much stronger stance on the issue than the Bush government.