How "much" emissions or how "many" emissions?

The following is what I found in the website of US Energy Information Administration. Is the word "emissions" usually used with "much" as in the quotation? If so, why is the verb "are" used instead of "is?"

How much of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are associated with electricity generation?

Solution 1:

The trick is with emission. It has pretty much always been both a count and non-count noun (see Lexico for examples), but some jiggery pokery has occurred to make the plural non-count too.

When talking about a gas or other thing that can be emitted, "an emission of" is a quantifier for a non-count thing. Like "a slice of cake" or "a bottle of milk", "an emission of CO₂" is quite obviously grammatical.

It can also be a container for count things, like "a bag of apples", for example: "an emission of rays".

Then in a non-count way "CO₂ emission is causing global warming", seems perfectly normal too.

The normal use of the plural is in the count situation: "The millions of beta-particle emissions per seconds are degrading the container quite quickly."

For some reason, a quirk of English I can't account for, emissions can be treated as simultaneously count and non-count. Here are some examples:

• how much emissions are achieved in different locations — Energy Systems Engineering: Evaluation and Implementation

• knowing just how much emissions are actually produced by aircraft engines. — Aeroengines and propulsion: selected papers from Aerotech 95

• How much emissions are produced in both sourcing and creating the materials? — Designing for Sustainability

This usage seems pretty recent, but perhaps I'm searching for the wrong thing. Maybe this marks emissions as in a transitory period toward full non-count status?

Google books doesn't have any hits for "how much emissions is", but searching the wider web throws up a few examples:

• How much of China's CO2 emissions is made to produce goods for the U.S. or Europe?

• If we're sure how much emissions is the right amount

• the argument about how much emissions is avoided (by Wookey, @ 31 May 2011 at 5:35 AM)

And yes, these are obviously all colloquial and not formal, and it doesn't happen enough yet to be recorded in a dictionary, but it looks like it's on its way.

So in answer to your question: it's unusual to use emissions that way, but that use is growing in popularity, so can't be completely discounted as ungrammatical.