The Energy Policy Act of 1992 directed the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to establish a mechanism for the voluntary collection of information on reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and carbon fixation. Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases 2001 is the EIA's eighth annual summary of data collected under the Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program.

A total of 228 U.S. companies and other entities reported in 2001 that they had undertaken projects to reduce or sequester greenhouse gases. Reported direct emission reductions represented over 3 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2001, while reported indirect reductions were 1 percent. Carbon sequestration represented a fraction of one percent.

Direct reductions are emission reductions from sources owned or leased by the reporting entity, while indirect reductions are emission reductions from sources not owned or leased by the reporting entity but that occur as a result of the entity's activities.

Reported emission reductions included 222 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) in direct reductions, 71 MMTCO2e in indirect emissions and 8 million metric tons of reductions from carbon sequestration.

	Reported Project-Level Reductions, 2001
	Source: Energy Information Administration.

Who Reported
Reports were received from 228 participants who undertook 1,705 projects in 2001 to reduce or sequester greenhouse gases. The electric power sector continued to provide the largest number of participants with 103 companies reporting--including nearly all the largest electricity generating utilities--even though total reports declined due to mergers and acquisitions under continued electric industry restructuring.

Reports were also received from entities in automobile manufacturing, petroleum production and refining, coal mining, food processing, chemicals, and other industries and services. The total number of participants from outside the electric power sector (125 reporters) was ten times the number for 1994, when only 13 reports from 8 non-electricity industries were received.

Projects Reported
The principal objective of the majority of projects reported for 2001 was to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Most of these projects reduced carbon dioxide either by lowering fossil fuel consumption or by switching to less carbon-intensive sources of energy. Many also achieved small reductions in emissions of other gases.

Almost all of the 383 carbon sequestration projects that were reported increased the amount of carbon stored in sinks through various forestry measures, including afforestation, reforestation, urban forestry, forest preservation, and modified forest management techniques.

EIA uses basic and modified reference cases against which actual emissions are compared in order to estimate emission reductions. In a basic reference case, actual historical emissions or sequestration are used as the reference. In a modified reference case, an estimate is made of what emissions or sequestration would have been in the absence of the project.

Commitments
Eighty-five entities reported formal commitments to reduce future emissions, to take action to reduce emissions in the future, or to provide financial support for activities related to greenhouse gas reductions. More than one-third of these entities were electricity generators participating in the Climate Challenge Program, a joint, voluntary effort of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the electric power industry to reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gases.

Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases 2001 contains chapters on reducing emissions in the electric power industry; reducing emissions from energy end use; carbon sequestration; reducing methane emissions; hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafloride; and future commitments.

It also contains an analysis of the effect of legislation and government policy on reported emissions and emission reductions, as well as on the future of the Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program.

Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases 2001, DOE/EIA-0608(2001); 210 pages, 57 tables, 18 figures.

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File last modified: March 28, 2003