Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

EMISSIONS ACCOUNTING

Public lands fly under climate radar

Nature Climate Change volume 9, pages 92–93 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Global greenhouse gas emissions are set to rise again in 2018. New research from the United States Geological Survey casts light on emissions from fuels produced on federal lands and finds that they accounted for over 20% of US emissions in recent years.

The large share of US and global greenhouse gas emissions from federal lands has not been widely appreciated, but it is important because of the proportionate and direct influence the federal government has over these emissions — and because there are several ways that federal lands’ emissions might be decreased at the same time as creating jobs and helping communities to transition away from fossil fuels2.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Greenhouse gas emissions from US federal lands.

References

  1. Merrill, M. D. et al. Federal Lands Greenhouse Emissions and Sequestration in the United States — Estimatesfor 2005–14: US Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2018–5131. https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20185131(2018).

  2. Erickson, P., Lazarus, M. & Piggot, G. Nat. Clim. Change 8, 1037–1043 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2018).

  4. Fourth National Climate Assessment Vol. II (USGCRP, 2018).

  5. Davis, S. J. et al. Science 360, eaas9793 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Smith, P. M. et al. Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change (eds Edenhofer, O. et al.) Ch. 11 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014).

  7. Bureau of Land Management Solar Energy Project Information (November 2018) BLM(a) (2018); https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/energy_renewable_SolarProjectInfo_november%202018%20%282%29_0.xlsx

  8. Bureau of Land Management Wind Energy Project Information BLM(b) (2018); https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/energy_renewable_WindProjectInfo_november%202018%20%283%29.xlsx

  9. Krupnick, A., Darmstatder, J., Richardson, N. & McClaughlin, K. Res. Future 46 (2015); https://elr.info/news-analysis/46/20572/putting-carbon-charge-federal-coal-legal-and-economic-issues

  10. The Economics of Coal Leasing on Federal Lands: Ensuring a Fair Return to Taxpayers (Council of Economic Advisors, 2016).

  11. Gillingham, K. et al. Science 354, 1096–1098 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, Stanford University, California, USA

    Nathan Ratledge

  2. Department of Earth System Science, University of California Irvine, California, USA

    Steven J. Davis

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California Irvine, California, USA

    Steven J. Davis

  4. Apogee Economics and Policy, Washington, DC, USA

    Laura Zachary

Authors
  1. Nathan Ratledge
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Steven J. Davis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Laura Zachary
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nathan Ratledge.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ratledge, N., Davis, S.J. & Zachary, L. Public lands fly under climate radar. Nature Clim Change 9, 92–93 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0399-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0399-7

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing