Industry and Manufacturing

Industry and manufacturing are major contributors to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The industrial sector was the second-largest greenhouse gas emitter, accounting for 30% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, and is projected to be the largest emitter by 2035. Within the industrial sector as a whole, manufacturing is the largest consumer of energy and emitter of greenhouse gases.

Industrial emissions derive primarily from burning fossil fuels, both directly for heat to power chemical reactions and indirectly for electricity to power machines. Other sources of direct industrial emissions include the chemical reactions themselves (notably in the production of cement) as well as leaks from equipment. The trade and transportation of industrial goods also contribute to emissions in a globalized economy, but those emissions are attributed to the transportation sector.