The United States is working to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and develop a carbon-neutral power sector by 2035, but new data from Ceres shows the country shifted in the wrong direction last year as global economies recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector were up 7% in 2021, relative to 2020, based on an analysis of the country’s 100 largest power producers. That follows a 10% decline in 2020, as pandemic shutdowns ground the economy to a halt.

The overall trend remains positive, however: CO2 emissions from U.S. generators were still about 34% lower in 2021 than their peak in 2007, according to Ceres.

“While the power sector has shown marked improvement over our two decades of analysis, we need to see an acceleration of larger emissions cuts across the industry in order to reach our 2030 emissions reduction goals,” Ceres Senior Program Director of Climate and Energy Dan Bakal said in a statement

The United States has committed to cut economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 50-52% by 2030 relative to 2005 levels.

“It’s important to recognize how far we have come, but impossible to ignore how far we still have to go to meet our critical 2030 goals set by the Paris Accord,” Bakal added.