January 27, 2025

GOP Lies: Senate Minority Leader Tells Reporters Natural Gas Has ‘No Carbon Emissions’

By Joe O’Leary
January 27 @ 1:25 pm

Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding speaks at a Jan. 22 press conference. Credit: screenshot courtesy of CT-N

 

Senate Republican Minority Leader Stephen Harding told a reporter at a Wednesday press conference on energy proposals that natural gas, a type of fossil fuel, has “no carbon emissions.”

“We’re talking about an affordable energy resource that has no carbon emissions,” Harding said during the press conference.

According to scientific fact, Harding is wrong.

The World Nuclear Association reported in September 2024 that more than 40% of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions are due to the burning of fossil fuels for electricity generation.

That number jumps to about 80% for emissions in the United States and the European Union. It also said 45% of global carbon emissions from fossil fuels come from coal, 35% come from oil and 20% come from gas.

According to NASA, in 2023, total global fossil emissions rose by more than 1 percent, representing more than 36 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide created from the burning of fossil fuels.

The Environmental Protection Agency said that “the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in the United States is from burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat and transportation.”

The EPA said in 2022, 60% of US electricity generation came from the burning of fossil fuels, primarily coal and natural gas. In 2021 and 2022, a national increase in total greenhouse gas emissions was driven primarily by fossil fuel combustion including coal and natural gas, the EPA added.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in 2023 that natural gas and coal represented 99% of electric power sector carbon dioxide emissions.

The United Nations said that fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – represent more than 75% of global greenhouse emissions and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in late 2023 that a record rate of carbon dioxide emissions was impacting efforts to reduce pollution and the impact of climate change.

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