Politics
U.S. emissions rose as Trump policies favored fossil fuels, U.N. report says
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions climbed last year, the largest increase among G20 economies, amid rising electricity demand and federal policies supporting fossil fuels. The U.N. report says countries’ current climate plans fall short of the cuts needed to limit dangerous warming.
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rose significantly last year, making the country the only major economy with a dramatic increase and the G20’s largest rise, according to a United Nations report released Oct. 21, 2026. The report points to increased electricity demand and Trump administration policies supporting fossil fuels as factors behind the jump.
The annual Emissions Gap Report, compiled by international scientists, says global emissions were roughly unchanged from the previous year. The United States was tied with Russia for the highest per-capita emissions among G20 countries. China produces substantially more emissions overall, but has more than four times the U.S. population.
The administration has directed some coal-fired power plants to stay open longer, rolled back vehicle fuel-efficiency standards and ended tax credits for solar and wind projects. U.N. Environment Programme Executive Director Inger Andersen said energy-security concerns have complicated efforts to cut pollution, pointing to disruptions in global oil and gas supplies linked to wars in Ukraine and Iran. She also noted that several G20 members, including the European Union, have maintained emissions reductions.
The U.S. government said in a statement included in the report that it “does not endorse or agree with its analysis or conclusions” and had not commented on the report. The Trump administration has withdrawn from the 2015 Paris climate agreement and is seeking to end U.S. participation in U.N. climate work. The Environmental Protection Agency has also reversed its prior position that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare.
The report comes less than a month before international climate talks in Turkey, where leaders are expected to discuss clean-energy investment and the costs of addressing climate change. The Trump administration will not take part.
The report projects that the world is on course for about 2.8 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming this century, with potentially catastrophic consequences. The Paris agreement aims to keep warming well below 2 degrees Celsius. The report says limiting warming to that level remains possible if global emissions fall about 25% over the next decade. Current national climate plans, if fully carried out, would cut emissions by only about 15%.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged countries, particularly major emitters, to do more, saying, “Every fraction of a degree matters.” The report says the planet has already warmed about 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since the mid-1800s, intensifying risks including heat waves, floods, storms and wildfires.