May 1, 2024
Total US methane emissions have been trending downward and declined from 870 Mt CO2eq in 1990 to 730 Mt CO2eq in 2021, a slight uptick occurred in 2022 up to 790 Mt CO2eq.
The energy sector is the largest contributor to US methane emissions averaging 45% of the total since 1990, although there has been a noticeable decline since 2016 dropping to almost 41% in 2022.
The agricultural sector (mainly Enteric fermentation) is the 2nd largest emitter of methane averaging 33% of the total however, unlike the energy sector, emissions from agriculture have increased since 2016 from 33% to 38%.
Methane emissions from landfills (Waste) contributed about 21% of the total methane emissions since 1990 but has declined from 25% to about 21% in 2022.
Source:
EPA. 2022. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Data Explorer. Available at https://cfpub.epa.gov/ghgdata/inventoryexplorer/#iallsectors/allsectors/methane/inventsect/all