Are Massachusetts and New England major contributors to global climate change?
According to the state’s climate protection plan, Massachusetts emitted about 123 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year (CO2 and other greenhouse gases) as of 2001, a level greater than that produced by many European countries, including Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, or Switzerland. Click here3 for the Massachusetts climate protection plan. According to an estimate by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, a Boston nonprofit organization that analyzes air quality issues for the Northeast states, the six New England states combined produced 224 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in the year 2000. If New England had been a nation, its greenhouse gas emissions for that year would have ranked eleventh worldwide. Nearly 90 percent of New England’s emissions come from energy consumption. Click here4 to read the NESCAUM report.
