EPA Releases U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory in Response to EDF FOIA Request

(Washington, D.C. – May 8, 2025) The Environmental Protection Agency has released the latest U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Environmental Defense Fund.

The U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory provides critical, commonsense information about the pollution that causes climate change, fuels extreme weather events, and harms people in communities across the country. EPA compiles the inventory every year, but this year the Trump EPA failed to release it to the public. 

“EPA has reliably released the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory over the past three decades, under Presidential administrations of both parties,” said Erin Murphy, EDF Director and Senior Attorney.  “The Trump administration’s decision to withhold this vital information left people in the dark about the sources of pollution while they're experiencing the harms of a changing climate. Fortunately, public access to these important documents has now been restored.”

EDF submitted a FOIA request in April for records related to the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory. We have posted the records we received – which include the Executive Summary, full U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report, and extensive underlying information – on our website. Our initial examination of the data finds that the report is highly detailed and transparent.

The U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory ensures the public has transparent information about the country’s largest sources of climate pollution, which enables policymakers and companies to pursue commonsense solutions to reduce that pollution. In addition, as a party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change the United States is obligated to submit a national greenhouse gas emissions inventory report by April 15^th each year but failed to fulfill that obligation this year.

This deeply concerning decision to withhold the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory comes alongside other actions by the Trump administration to shield or remove climate pollution data, including planned actions to revise and potentially eliminate the agency’s separate Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program and to dismiss expert scientists working on the National Climate Assessment – the report required by Congress that documents the impacts of climate change across the U.S.

The final U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory and all supporting documents that EDF received in response to our FOIA request are now housed on EDF’s website.