Carbon Intensity

Carbon intensity can refer to:

• The ratio of Carbon Dioxide to energy: a measure of the "greenness" of different fuels.

• The ratio of carbon emissions produced to GDP.

The U.S. plans to cut carbon intensity by 18% by 2012. This has been criticised by environmentalists as it can be achieved by increasing the GDP as well as by reducing carbon output.

From 1990 to 2000 the carbon intensity of the U.S. economy declined by 17 percent yet total emissions increased by 14 percent In 2002, the U.S. National Environmental trust labelled carbon intensity, "a bookkeeping trick which allows the administration to do nothing about global warming while unsafe levels of emissions continue to rise."