US energy-related CO2 output is likely to rise through 2016 following growth over the past two years, though the country’s emissions are becoming more decoupled from economic growth, the US energy department said in a report on Monday.

The department’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) said energy-related CO2 emissions rose 0.7% in 2014 to 5.3 billion tonnes, rising for the second year in a row. But it added that the world’s biggest economy was getting less carbon-intensive.

“Unlike 2013, when emissions and gross domestic product grew at similar rates (2.5% and 2.2%, respectively), 2014’s CO2 emissions growth rate of 0.7% was much smaller than the 2014 GDP growth rate of 2.4%,” it said in a statement.

The growth in emissions will make it more difficult for the US to meet its goal to cut greenhouse gas output by up to 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025.

Energy-related CO2 emissions, by far the biggest source of US greenhouse gases, are at around 90% of 2005 levels, the report said.

Last month, the EIA projected that energy-related CO2 emissions are likely to grow by a total 2.7% by 2040 from 2013 levels.  The forecast did not take into account the administration’s Clean Power Plan, which is designed to help meet the 2025 goal.

By Ben Garside – ben@carbon-pulse.com