The non-fluorinated chemicals sector of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) includes facilities that manufacture adipic acid, ammonia, hydrogen, nitric acid, petrochemicals, phosphoric acid, silicon carbide, titanium dioxide, and other chemicals (i.e., facilities with various NAICS codes related to chemical production). Overall, the greenhouse gas emissions reported by the non-fluorinated chemicals sector have increased from 163.1 million metric tons (MMT) CO₂e in 2011 to 181.2 MMT CO₂e (11.1 percent) in 2023. After a slight decrease (2.7 percent) from 2011 to 2012, emissions steadily increased by 1 to 5 percent per year through 2018, before decreasing by 6.3 MMT CO₂e (3.4 percent) for 2019, and then increasing by 0.8 MMT CO₂e (0.5 percent) for 2020 and 1.9 MMT CO₂e (1.1 percent) for 2021. In 2022, emissions only decreased by 0.7% from the 2021 total. In 2023, emissions increased by 0.8 percent from the 2022 total. Over 75 percent of the emissions from this sector are emitted from the combined production of petrochemicals (66 MMT CO₂e in 2023), hydrogen (44 MMT CO₂e in 2023) and ammonia (35 MMT CO₂e in 2022).

Ammonia Manufacturing. Reported emissions from ammonia manufacturing increased from 24.9 MMCO₂e in 2011 to 35.3 MMCO₂e in 2023 (10.5 MMT CO₂e or 42.1 percent). This is mostly due to an increase in the number of ammonia production facilities, from 22 in 2011 to 29 in 2023. New ammonia production facilities were opened in 2013 (1), 2016 (3), and 2017 (3). The number of ammonia production facilities reporting to the GHGRP has not changed since 2017. Emissions between 2017 and 2023 have varied from a low of 33.1 MMT CO₂e in 2017 to a high of 36.3 MMT CO₂e in 2020. Emissions in 2023 were 0.26 MMT CO₂e (0.7 percent) lower than reported in 2022.

Hydrogen Production. Reported emissions from the hydrogen production subsector increased by 18.2 percent (6.8 MMT CO₂e) from 37.5 MMT CO₂e in 2011 to 44.4 MMT CO₂e in 2023. The overall increase in emissions is at least partly driven by increased demand for hydrogen by petroleum refineries due to an expansion of the scope of engines required to use low sulfur and ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel. Lowering the sulfur content of diesel fuel is achieved by increasing hydro-treating capacity of fluid catalytic crackers and requires additional inputs of hydrogen at refineries. Emissions from hydrogen production decreased by 6.5 percent (2.9 MMT CO₂e) from 2019 to 2020, primarily due to a drop in diesel demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Emissions in 2021 increased slightly from 2020 but remained 2.9 MMT CO₂e below pre-pandemic levels. From 2022 to 2023, emissions increased by 3.5%.

Petrochemical Production. Reported emissions from the petrochemical production subsector increased by 13.7 MMT CO₂e (26.0 percent) from 2011 to 2023 as the number of petrochemical plants increased from 64 plants in 2011 to 75 plants in 2023. Emissions increased by 1.7 MMT CO₂e from 2022 to 2023.