Note: GDP in real 2022 U.S. dollars. Emissions are energy-related CO2 emissions.
Data Source: U.S. Environmental Information Administration, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Census Bureau
Analysis by CEC Economics
Highlights
- In 2022 (the latest year for which nationally comparable data is available), $1,000 of economic activity13 in California resulted in 0.09 MTCO2e produced. In comparison, the same $1,000 of economic activity in the U.S. (excluding California) resulted in 0.21 MTCO2e produced—more than double that of California. From 2012 to 2022, California’s energy intensity decreased by 33.4%, ahead of all other most populous states: Texas (-21.0%), Pennsylvania (-20.6%), New York (-16.1%), Florida (-28.3%), Illinois (-23.3%), Massachusetts (-24.2%) and Michigan (-15.0%). Among the fifty states (excluding the District of Columbia), only Arizona (-37.2%), Utah (-35.9%), and Georgia (-34.3%) had faster decreases in energy intensity than California from 2012 to 2022, but these states all had much higher energy intensity than California.
- In addition to performing well in terms of carbon intensity, California also has one of the lowest energy-related GHG emissions per capita levels, with 8.36 MTCO2e per person in 2022, representing a 8.9% decline from 9.17 MTCO2e per person in 2012. California’s low per capita emissions edge out every other big state including New York (8.44 MTCO2e per person) and Massachusetts (8.48 MTCO2e per person), which historically had slightly lower per capita emissions than California. Among the 50 states, only Maryland had lower per capita emissions (8.20 MTCO2e per person) than California in 2022. Comparatively, the U.S. (excluding California) per capita emission was 15.73 MTCO2e in 2022, representing a 11.1% decrease from 17.69 MTCO2e per person in 2012.
13 Inflation-adjusted in 2022 dollars.
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