The Volokh Conspiracy

From The Volokh Conspiracy - EU vs. USA on CO2 emissions thoughout the last 16 years

An editorial in today’s WSJ adds some interesting statistics to this picture. From 1990-1995 and 1995-2000, the growth of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. was significantly greater than in the E.U. Since 2000, however, this has changed, as illustrated below.

U.S. vs E.U.
1990-1995 6.4% -2.2%
1995-2000 10.1% 2.2%
2000-2004 2.1% 4.5%

Consider also that from 2000-2004, the U.S. economy also grew at a much faster rate than did that of Europe, as did the U.S. population. Clearly, then, the U.S. must be doing something right when compared to the nations of Europe.There is much to fault in U.S. climate policy, including the failure to cut subsidies for fossil fuels or provide greater opportunities for market-driven innovation in the energy sector, but Europe is hardly providing a model the U.S. should follow.
I’m sure there are stories behind the numbers (EU numbers don’t include the old Eastern Bloc nations, or the effects on US offshoring, etc), but hey, now it’s out there.