City Health Dashboard

CO2 Emissions - Per Capita, All Sectors

Average total emissions, citywide, per person, of CO2 (in metric tons) from fossil fuels throughout the year

Source:
Crosswalk Labs.
11,0001010010.5
Dashboard-City Average
Dashboard-City Average

Why do we measure CO2 Emissions – Per Capita?

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a greenhouse gas (GHG) that traps heat in the atmosphere, making the planet warmer.1 It is naturally present in the atmosphere as part of the carbon cycle, but human activities since the Industrial Revolution have raised atmospheric CO2 concentrations significantly. Such activities include the burning of fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil), solid waste, trees, and other biological materials. Certain chemical reactions, industrial processes, and changes in land use also contribute to increasing CO2 levels.1,2 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tracks total U.S. GHG emissions associated with human activities by source, GHG, and economic sector. The main sources of CO2 emissions in the U.S. include transportation, electricity, industrial, residential, and commercial.3,4

According to a 2024 EPA report, “Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks”, CO2 accounts for nearly 80% of total GHG emissions in the U.S. When CO2 emissions surpass the absorption and removal of CO2 by natural processes, the total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increases, adding to the burden of atmospheric GHGs that contribute to increasing global temperatures.1-3,6 Total GHG emissions increased by 0.2% from 2021 to 2022. This increase was primarily driven by increased CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion.3,5 The transportation sector emerged as the primary contributor to CO2 emissions according to the EPA’s 2022 sector-based analysis, followed by the electric power, industrial, residential and commercial sectors.3-5

The impacts of rising temperatures affect health and wellbeing directly and indirectly in many ways.7 Experts indicate that the rise in global temperatures has increased the frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme weather and climate events such as heat waves, cyclones, floods, wildfires, hurricanes, and combinations of these extreme events, each of which can cause human illness, injury, and mortality.7-10 Exposure to high temperatures can also directly precipitate heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and heat-related mortality.8,11 More broadly, increased heat exposure has been associated with poorer health outcomes in cardiovascular, reproductive, and mental health.12-16 Research has also found associations between heat exposure and urban crime.17, 18

With mounting evidence that rising global temperatures have direct impacts on human health, monitoring and mitigating CO2 emissions has become increasingly important. Measuring CO2 emissions by source can support collective efforts to reduce local GHG emissions and their heat-related effects. Understanding local emissions patterns provides communities with an essential building block for developing broader sustainability strategies—by helping to make informed decisions about energy use, conservation and mitigation efforts, and infrastructure priorities.19-22

How do we measure CO2 Emissions – Per Capita?

This metric also includes estimates of carbon emissions by sector: Commercial Buildings, Electricity Production, Industrial Buildings, Residential Buildings, Transportation.

Strengths and Limitations

Strengths of Metric

Limitations of Metric

Observing local CO2 Emissions helps target areas with higher concentrations and track progress towards reducing GHG emissions.

This metric provides the most geographically granular, up-to-date, publicly available data for CO2 emissions by economic sector.

The metric is based on model-derived estimates that primarily use data from the National Emissions Inventory (NEI). This approach may introduce uncertainties in local CO₂ estimates due to its reliance on proxy data for spatial, temporal, and activity-based patterns. For more information, please refer to the City Health Dashboard Technical Document..

This metric only measures carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and does not include emissions from other greenhouse gases, or emissions from other sources such as solid waste or deforestation.

Calculation

City-level per capita estimates were calculated by dividing total city-level CO₂ emissions by the population for the given year.

For more information on the calculation, please refer to the City Health Dashboard Technical Document.

Data Source

Estimates for this metric are from Crosswalk Labs.

Years of Collection

Data from 2024, 1 year estimate.

References

  1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2025, January 16). Overview Greenhouse Gases. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases

  2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2025, March 26). Climate Indicators: Greenhouse Gases. https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/greenhouse-gases

  3. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2024) Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2022. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 430-R-24-004. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks-1990-2022.

  4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2025, March 31). Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions

  5. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2025, February 13). Sources of Carbon Dioxide Emissions. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/carbon-dioxide-emissions

  6. U.S. Department of Energy. (n.d.). DOE Explains...Carbon Sequestration. https://www.energy.gov/science/doe-explainscarbon-sequestration

  7. USGCRP, 2016: The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment. Crimmins, A., J. Balbus, J.L. Gamble, C.B. Beard, J.E. Bell, D. Dodgen, R.J. Eisen, N. Fann, M.D. Hawkins, S.C. Herring, L. Jantarasami, D.M. Mills, S. Saha, M.C. Sarofim, J. Trtanj, and L. Ziska, Eds. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, 312 pp. http://dx.doi.org/10.7930/J0R49NQX

  8. Ebi, K. L., Vanos, J., Baldwin, J. W., Bell, J. E., Hondula, D. M., Errett, N. A., Hayes, K., Reid, C. E., Saha, S., Spector, J., & Berry, P. (2021). Extreme Weather and Climate Change: Population Health and Health System Implications. Annual review of public health, 42, 293–315. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-012420-105026

  9. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2025, February 20). Climate Change Impacts on Health. https://www.epa.gov/climateimpacts/climate-change-impacts-health

  10. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2025, March 25). Understanding the Connections Between Climate Change and Human Health. https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/understanding-connections-between-climate-change-and-human-health

  11. Faurie, C., Varghese, B. M., Liu, J., & Bi, P. (2022). Association between high temperature and heatwaves with heat-related illnesses: A systematic review and meta-analysis. The Science of the total environment, 852, 158332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158332

  12. Desai, Y., Khraishah, H., & Alahmad, B. (2023). Heat and the Heart. The Yale journal of biology and medicine, 96(2), 197–203. https://doi.org/10.59249/HGAL4894

  13. Liu, J., Varghese, B. M., Hansen, A., Zhang, Y., Driscoll, T., Morgan, G., Dear, K., Gourley, M., Capon, A., & Bi, P. (2022). Heat exposure and cardiovascular health outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet. Planetary health, 6(6), e484–e495. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00117-6

  14. Thompson, R., Lawrance, E. L., Roberts, L. F., Grailey, K., Ashrafian, H., Maheswaran, H., Toledano, M. B., & Darzi, A. (2023). Ambient temperature and mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet. Planetary health, 7(7), e580–e589. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(23)00104-3

  15. Segal, T. R., & Giudice, L. C. (2022). Systematic review of climate change effects on reproductive health. Fertility and sterility, 118(2), 215–223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2022.06.005

  16. Habibi, P., Ostad, S. N., Heydari, A., Aliebrahimi, S., Montazeri, V., Foroushani, A. R., Monazzam, M. R., Ghazi-Khansari, M., & Golbabaei, F. (2022). Effect of heat stress on DNA damage: a systematic literature review. International journal of biometeorology, 66(11), 2147–2158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-022-02351-w

  17. Azan, A., Choi, J., Matthay, E.C. et al. Examining the Association between Heat Exposure and Crime in Cities across the United States: A Scoping Review. J Urban Health 102, 352–378 (2025). https://doi-org.ezproxy.med.nyu.edu/10.1007/s11524-025-00970-3

  18. Heilmann K, Kahn ME, Tang CK. The urban crime and heat gradient in high and low poverty areas. J Public Econ. 2021;197:104408. https://doi-org.ezproxy.med.nyu.edu/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104408.

  19. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2025, January 21). GHG Reduction Programs & Strategies. https://www.epa.gov/climateleadership/ghg-reduction-programs-strategies

  20. IPCC, 2023: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, H. Lee and J. Romero (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, pp. 1-34, doi: 10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647.001

  21. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2025, April 25). Carbon Pollution from Transportation. https://www.epa.gov/transportation-air-pollution-and-climate-change/carbon-pollution-transportation

  22. Volz, L. & Pine, J. (2022, April 22). The Top 5 Ways Cities Are Addressing Climate Change, National League of Cities. https://www.nlc.org/article/2022/04/22/the-top-5-ways-cities-are-addressing-climate-change/

Last updated: July 2, 2025