Greenpeace says Tennessee’s Carbon Emissions Aren’t Good

The international environmental group, Greenpeace, released a report on carbon dioxide emissions today. Tennessee is in the middle of the pack when compared to other states but high when compared to other countries.

The reports measures total CO2 emissions from 1960 to 2005–Tennessee ranks 23rd highest in per-capita emissions out of the 50 states.

But worldwide, Greenpeace Organizer Edyta Sitko says if most of the states were considered their own countries, their per-capita emissions would be second only to that of Luxembourg’s. She says that includes Tennessee.

“TVA has been pushing a little bit for different renewable projects however most of our energy comes from coal.”

The Tennessee Valley Authority gets 60-percent of its energy from coal while nuclear and hydroelectric make up the rest. Greenpeace is urging a host of different remedies for lowering emissions, ranging from using solar to implementing a carbon credit-trading system. Greenpeace does not support nuclear power.

The US accounted for 26-percent of the world’s total CO2 emissions over the last 45 years, beating out China and Russia.