The economic situation also contributed to increased electricity use. And without enough renewable energy to keep up with demand, the country leaned more on natural gas. The shift increased overall electricity-related emissions by 1.9 percent, even as coal use fell sharply.

There are bright spots in this otherwise gloomy data. Fossil fuels emissions are still considerably lower than they were at their 2005 peak, and gas use fell by 0.1 percent versus 2017 despite people driving more miles. Hybrids, electric cars and more efficient conventional cars are making a difference, then.

Still, this indicates that the US' CO2 output is both linked too closely to its economic success and that there aren't enough efforts to curb industrial emissions. Moreover, it's increasingly clear that current American policies aren't good enough to resist the effects of climate change. And when the existing US administration opposes attempts to fight climate change, you might not see improvement on that front for a while.