Howard County reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent, with plans to push reductions to 60 percent by 2030.
New data from Howard County’s “HoCo Climate Forward: 2025 Annual Report” shows that county leaders have reduced community-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 26 percent. Howard’s annual rate of these reductions has increased from 2.7 to 3.7 percent based on new data. This new data puts Howard County more than a third of the way toward its 2030 goal of a 60 percent reduction in climate-warming emissions and brings it closer to becoming net zero by 2045.
From 2005 to 2019, the report shows a 15 percent reduction in GHG gas emission levels in Howard County, a one percent annual reduction rate. However, during the last four years of available GHG data (2019 to 2023), the county nearly quadrupled its annual rate of emissions reduction to 3.7 percent. While this acceleration is a positive indicator towards the county meeting its Climate Forward goal of 60 percent GHG reduction by 2030, the county must accelerate the annual rate of GHG reductions to 4.8 percent to meet both its 2030 and 2045 targets.