Transportation overtakes energy as leading greenhouse-gas producer in North Carolina
A new state report has identified the transportation sector as North Carolina’s leading cause of climate-altering greenhouse gases, overtaking the energy sector.
Gov. Roy Cooper called on the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality to prepare the updated greenhouse gas emissions inventory as part of an executive order signed last month. The inventory details the amount of greenhouse gases the state is contributing to the atmosphere and what sectors of the economy are creating emissions.
According to the report, North Carolina’s total emissions rose from 150.1 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2017 to 159.5 million metric tons in 2018. The state’s total greenhouse gas emissions fell by 23% between 2005 and 2018 even as the population grew by 19%.
“The updated inventory shows that North Carolina is making progress and our efforts to cut greenhouse emissions are paying off. It also highlights the need for continued focus on the transportation sector to meet our climate goals,” DEQ Secretary Elizabeth Biser said in a prepared statement.
North Carolina is on pace to cut emissions 39% from 2005 levels by 2030, the report said, considering the 2021 legislation requiring the energy sector to reduce carbon emissions and other trends. That would be short of the 50% reduction goal Cooper set in his recent order.
More than 80% of North Carolina’s emissions come from burning fossil fuels, according to the report. The N.C. Climate Science Report, published in 2020, said warming temperatures in the state are linked with ongoing emissions of greenhouse gases.
“The amount of warming will depend on future emissions of heat-trapping gases,” according to a summary of the climate science report.
The transportation sector produced 35.9% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, according to the emissions inventory, followed by the energy sector at 32.8%, industry at 12.2% and agriculture at 6.6%.
Kym Hunter, a Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney, said the transportation sector “has really been a neglected area of focus for this state when we think about climate change. We’ve made some good strides in the power sector, but this report is a wake-up call.”
House Bill 951, signed into law last year, requires Duke Energy to achieve a 70% reduction in emissions from its power-generating operations by 2030. According to the updated inventory, emissions from the state’s power sector declined by nearly 35% between 2005 and 2018, or half of the reductions that are now mandated.
In January Cooper signed Executive Order 246, which turns the state’s attention toward cutting emissions from transportation and tries to ensure that the state’s energy transition benefits all groups of people.
Goals in the executive order include having 1.25 million zero-emissions vehicles registered in North Carolina by 2030, with the emissions-free vehicles making up half of new car sales by that date. Senate Republicans sent Cooper a letter asking how the administration plans to pay for repairs to roads and bridges if gas tax revenues plummet due to a spike in zero-emission vehicle registrations.
The greenhouse gas emissions inventory states that transportation emissions are expected to decline more slowly than energy sector emissions, at least under existing policies. Hunter, the SELC attorney, agrees, citing North Carolina’s car- and truck-heavy lifestyle and urban cores looped by highway systems.
“It’s not just as simple as shifting from coal to renewable sources,” Hunter said. “This is fundamentally about how people get around and how they live their lives and it takes the cooperation of actors at every level of government and ultimately is going to require some lifestyle changes.”
The next greenhouse gas inventory is set to be released in January 2024.
This story was produced with financial support from 1Earth Fund, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 6:36 AM with the headline "Transportation overtakes energy as leading greenhouse-gas producer in North Carolina."