You will not find this fact in any of Josh Fox's videos about fracking and shale gas. Our Canadian friends call it a "climate change stunner." The stunning fact for Canadians is that the USA leads the world in reducing carbon emissions since 2006. This fact likely stuns most Americans too, as little has been said about it.
Across the Atlantic, the British are equally amazed by the turn of events that make the USA the world leader in reducing carbon pollution. A headline said somewhat incredulously: "US Carbon Emissions Down More Than Any Other Country." See http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/20120620/carbon-emissions-down-more-than-any-other-country.htm.
Both the Canadian and British reporting quickly identify that the shale gas boom is the key to the remarkable transformation of Uncle Sam into the world's leading carbon reducer. Importantly, both note that shale gas could do the same in other countries.
For example, the British publication quotes the chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, to say: "The replacement of coal by shale gas is a key factor and what happened in the US could very well happen in China and other countries and could definitely help in reducing CO2 emissions."
Environmentalists attacking shale gas especially must come to grips with the facts stated by Mr. Birol, as inconvenient as they may be to anti-fracking campaigns around the world. Their failure to do so is the reason that famed environmental scientist and guru, James Lovelock, is "cross with the greens." www.johnhanger.blogspot.com/2012/06/famed-environmentalist-embraces-gas.html.
Roaring carbon increases in China, where shale gas is plentiful but not yet produced in large quantity, makes the US success in using shale gas to reduce its carbon pollution a particularly important model. Since 2006, the US has reduced carbon emissions by 7.7%, the equivalent of removing 84 million cars from the road. The total vehicle fleet in the USA is about 246 million and so a reduction equal to 84 million cars is enormous, comparable to more than 1 of 3 cars off the road.
According to calculations by the Canadian journalist, the carbon footprint of a typical American is back to 1964 levels and US emissions are falling faster than necessary to meet the Copenhagen Accord goal of 17% reduction by 2020.
So how is the news that carbon emissions are falling substantially largely as a result of shale gas being treated here? Remarkably few Americans have been exposed to the fact that the USA is now the world leader in cutting carbon emissions and to the fact that pollution fighting leadership is substantially thanks to the shale gas revolution.
Most unfortunately, in some circles, the huge carbon reductions made possible by shale gas remains the truth that cannot be spoken.