According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), energy-related CO2 emissions from gas should exceed those from coal by around 10% in 2016, due to a shift in thermal power generation (substitution of coal by gas).
Over the 1990-2005 period, coal and gas consumption tended to be similar (with CO2 emissions from coal combustion 82% higher as those from gas) but coal consumption has been declining since then (-40% between 2005 and 2015), while gas consumption rose by more than 25%. In 2015, gas consumption was significantly higher than coal consumption but their CO2 emissions came on par. Overall, the US carbon intensity (CO2 emissions per unit of GDP) has been declining since 2005.
The structural change in the US power mix (retirement of coal-fired units and commissioning of new gas-fired power plants) is likely to accelerate those trends and to raise energy-related CO2 emissions from gas far above those from coal in the coming years.
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