<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/1/1578415346891.jpeg" alt="A wind turbine rises over Kansas. Brian Grimmett / Kansas News Service " />
 <figcaption>A wind turbine rises over Kansas. Brian Grimmett / Kansas News Service </figcaption>
 </figure>By BRIAN GRIMMETT, <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/post/heres-why-kansas-co2-emissions-are-their-lowest-level-40-years">Kansas News Service</a>WICHITA, Kansas — As <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iea-emissions/global-carbon-emissions-hit-record-high-in-2018-iea-idUSKCN1R7005" target="_blank">global carbon dioxide emissions break records</a>, Kansas is headed in the opposite direction — reducing emissions for 10 straight years.Kansas’ decline is largely due to the <a href="https://www.awea.org/Awea/media/Resources/StateFactSheets/Kansas.pdf" target="_blank">rapid adoption of wind energy</a>
 and a slow move away from coal powered electricity. That is to say: 
Kansas produces less carbon dioxide, or CO2, the powerful greenhouse gas
 that’s released into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels and is a 
major driver of climate change.According to the <a href="https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/state/" target="_blank">U.S. Energy Information Agency, Kansas emitted 58.2 million metric tons of CO2 in 2017</a>. That’s good enough to make Kansas only the 31st largest emitter in the U.S.While
 it’s below the national average, on a global scale: “Kansas, if it were
 its own country, would be one of the top 60 CO2 emitters,” said Joe 
Daniel, an energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists.So, when Kansas sees a reduction in emissions like it has in the past decade, it matters, he said.The decline began in 2007, when total CO2 emissions in Kansas peaked at nearly 80 million metric tons.<h2>Where CO2 comes from</h2>So how did the state reduce its annual CO2 emissions by as much as the<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions#annual-co2-emissions" target="_blank"> entire country of Bolivia so quickly</a>? Three graphics explain it all.First,
 it’s helpful to know the source of Kansas’ CO2 emissions. In 2017, 
about half of total CO2 emissions came from burning fossil fuels, such 
as coal and natural gas, to create electricity. The rest was mostly from
 burning gasoline and diesel in our cars and trucks.The recent 
reductions aren’t transportation-related, because, despite more 
efficient and cleaner burning engines, additional people and cars have 
offset the difference. In fact, total transportation emissions in Kansas
 have barely changed in the past 40 years.That leaves electric power generation.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/1/1578415236933.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><h2>The decline of coal</h2>As the graph shows, energy-related CO2 emissions began to plummet in 
the mid-2000s. Specifically, it’s emissions from coal-fired power 
plants.While some of the reductions are likely due to plant 
upgrades and federal environmental regulations that forced coal plants 
to clean up what was coming out of their smoke stacks, it’s mostly 
because plants burned less coal.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/1/1578415264472.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Coal plants in Kansas only produced about 20,000 gigawatt hours of 
electricity in 2018, compared to an average of about 35,000 gigawatt 
hours during the 2000s.Daniel said the decline is largely due to
 economics. With the fast growth of cheap wind-generated electricity in 
Kansas, it’s become less profitable to run coal plants.“I don’t 
think a month has gone by where I haven’t read a study about the poor 
economics of either coal plants, or coal mines, or the companies that 
invest in those properties,” Daniel said.<h2>The rise of wind</h2><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/1/1578415299044.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>About 36% of all electricity produced in Kansas is from wind, the highest percentage of any U.S. state.Twenty years ago, there was no such thing.Part
 of the rapid growth of the industry is obvious: You wouldn’t put a wind
 turbine in a place with no wind, and there’s a lot of wind in Kansas.Plus, federal and state tax incentives encouraged developers to jump into the market.And it’s increasingly cheaper to build a wind farm.Just this year, Kansas saw four new wind farms come online, adding enough capacity to power 190,000 homes for a year.“Will
 we see four wind projects come online every year for the next five 
years? No,” said Kimberly Gencur-Svaty, director of public policy at the
 Kansas Power Alliance. “But I do think we’ll probably continue at a 
pace of where we’ve averaged the last 20 years, which is a project or 
two.”<h2>How low can it go?</h2>Ashok Gupta with
 the Natural Resources Defence Council said the move to renewable energy
 and subsequent decrease in CO2 emissions will be vital to reducing the 
impacts of climate change.But, he wondered if it will be fast enough, especially in states that have a lot of wind.”“We should be going by 2030 to pretty much carbon-free electricity,” he said.While
 some states like Colorado have begun to adopt 100% renewable energy 
goals, Kansas has not. Even if Kansas were to get to 100% renewable 
energy, there’s still the nearly 20 million metric tons of 
transportation emissions to worry about.Achieving a clean 
electrical grid will also be key to reducing those emissions, Gupta 
said, even if it also means another, different shift in the way things 
are currently done.“We have to start making sure that our 
transportation and our buildings are moving to all electric,” he said. 
“That’s the strategy for the next 10 years.”Editor's note: 
This story was corrected&nbsp; on Dec. 30 to show the coal plants produced 
gigawatt hours of electricity, not megawatt, and that there are 20 
million metric tons of transportation emissions, not 20 metric tons.Brian
 Grimmett reports on the environment, energy and natural resources for 
KMUW in Wichita and the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on 
Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/briangrimmett?lang=en">@briangrimmett</a>
 or email him at grimmett@kmuw.org. The Kansas News Service 
is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains 
Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and 
their connection to public policy.

Why Kansas CO2 emissions are at lowest level in 40 years