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January 13, 2026<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Rising for the First Time in Two Years\u2014They Could Climb Far Higher<\/p>\n The skyrocketing electricity demands of AI data centers\u2014and a cold snap\u2014are driving up America\u2019s emissions after years of declines, a new report finds<\/p>\n By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n AerialPerspective Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n After more than two years of progress on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the U.S. is on track to record an estimated 2.4 percent increase in 2025 compared with 2024, according to a new Rhodium Group report. The findings indicate the energy costs of the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence data center industry and cryptocurrencies, with emissions tied to the power sector rising by an estimated 3.8 percent in 2025.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s colder-than-average winter months also drove up demand for heat in buildings, pushing up emissions by 6.8 percent compared with 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cBased on historic and forecasted sectoral consumption data, the largest source of increased electricity use was commercial buildings, where data centers, cryptocurrency mining operations, and other large load customers drove electricity demand up by 2.4%,\u201d the analysts write in the report.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n And while transportation contributed more greenhouse gasses than any other sector in 2025, it saw almost no increase in emission levels\u2014likely because more hybrid and electric vehicles were on U.S. roads, the report argues.<\/p>\n Looking ahead, the Trump administration\u2019s sweeping changes to the U.S.\u2019s energy policies and push to open more AI data centers will almost certainly stymie the country\u2019s progress to reducing emissions, the report finds. Last year Rhodium\u2019s analysts predicted that, under what was then the U.S. policy landscape, the country was on track to reduce emissions by somewhere between 38 and 56 percent, compared with 2005 levels, by 2035. Now that estimate has dipped to a 26 to 35 percent reduction by 2035.<\/p>\n \u201cOur longer-term outlook for US GHG emissions changed sharply this past year,\u201d Rhodium\u2019s analysts write in the report.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 13, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Rising for the First Time in Two Years\u2014They Could Climb Far Higher The skyrocketing electricity demands of AI data centers\u2014and a cold snap\u2014are driving up America\u2019s emissions after years of declines, a new report finds By Jackie Flynn Mogensen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[3449,191,867,5226,495,1999,286,811,22104],"class_list":{"0":"post-41527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-climb","9":"tag-emissions","10":"tag-gas","11":"tag-greenhouse","12":"tag-higher","13":"tag-rising","14":"tag-time","15":"tag-u-s","16":"tag-yearsthey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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