Greenhouse gas emissions from energy production tied to federal lands fell between 2005 and 2022, U.S. Geological Survey researchers found in an illuminating new report.
In the first follow-up to an initial 2018 study, the USGS-led team determined that emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide totaled 1.37 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2005.
By 2022, the researchers found, the total greenhouse gas emissions had fallen to 1.12 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
“More than a quarter of lands in the United States are federally-managed, and almost one-quarter of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions come from federal lands,” USGS Director David Applegate noted in a statement Tuesday, adding that the report is “key to understanding greenhouse gas emissions trends related to federal land and resource management.”
