How cities can benefit from GHG inventories

 While much attention is given to measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at national and corporate levels, cities often get overlooked. Many fail to see the importance of conducting GHG inventories at the city level.

A national GHG inventory enables countries to design and implement effective climate policies and meet international commitments like the Paris Agreement.

For corporations, a GHG inventory helps track emissions, find ways to reduce environmental impact and cut costs. This, in turn, attracts investors and customers who prioritise environmentally responsible practices.

What about cities? In crowded urban areas, where rapid growth can worsen environmental issues, understanding emissions is crucial.

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With a clear emissions profile, cities can take direct mitigation actions by leveraging their assigned roles and powers such as land use planning, planning approvals and integrating low-carbon actions into their services, such as public transport, provision for more parks and green spaces and so on.

They can also engage communities in impactful actions to reduce carbon footprints and build a more sustainable future.

Bottom-up approach

Some might argue that we can simply downscale entirely national GHG data using factors like population density to estimate emissions at the city level.

This approach is far more cost-effective than bottom-up methods, which involve more detailed, city-specific data collection.

While full downscaling can offer a general estimate, it often overlooks crucial local variations and complexities that can only be accurately captured through a city-level GHG inventory.

Local governments oversee several key community services, including waste collection and sanitation. These areas are under the city's direct control, providing a good opportunity to measure and manage emissions.

Developing a dedicated city-level GHG inventory using as much locally sourced, bottom-up data as possible is crucial for obtaining a more precise and actionable picture of urban emissions.

For instance, activity data from city-owned buildings, facilities and landfills is often more accurate than estimates based on regional or national data.

City leaders, such as mayors and council members, must be empowered to make informed decisions and lead targeted initiatives that reduce their carbon footprint.

Additionally, they should be able to demonstrate to taxpayers that resources are being used responsibly and effectively for the benefit of the whole community.

Different emissions in cities

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At the national level, GHG inventories typically follow the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines.

For city-level emissions, however, the approach evolves beyond the IPCC guidelines, using more specialised methods.

In this case, the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC), developed jointly by World Resources Institute (WRI), C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) and International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), will be used.

The IPCC Guidelines allow for the exclusion of international waterborne navigation and air travel, but understanding these emissions can help a city grasp the full impact of transit through the area.

The GPC calculates all carbon emissions a city is responsible for, considering selected Scope 1, 2, and 3.

Scope 1 includes direct emissions that occur within the city’s boundary, while Scope 2 pertains to indirect emissions from grid-supplied energy.

And Scope 3 covers all other indirect emissions resulting from activities within the city but occurring outside its boundaries.

The BASIC reporting level covers standard emission sources such as stationary energy, transportation and waste.

However, BASIC+ includes additional sources not covered in BASIC, such as industrial processes and product use and agriculture, forestry and other land use.

Local councils and GHG inventories

Local governments, responsible for urban planning and development, also rely on GHG inventories for effective adaptation planning.

These inventories help identify areas most vulnerable to climate change impacts like heatwaves, flooding, and sea-level rise.

Current national and state policies are often too broad and generalised, lacking direct and specific reference to the low-carbon cities agenda.

Moreover, the absence of clear ownership and continuity in driving these initiatives undermines the long-term success of low-carbon efforts.

A city-level GHG inventory can help establish strong leadership and ensure ongoing commitment in driving steady progress and successful implementation of low-carbon initiatives.

Several local councils in Malaysia, including Putrajaya, in Malacca, and Iskandar Malaysia, have developed city-level GHG inventories as part of their efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

More local councils need to report their GHG inventories to help Malaysia reach its NDC goal in 2030, as well as the long-term goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, as outlined in the National Low-Carbon Cities Masterplan (NLCCM)! - Mkini

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CHONG YEN MEE is a UNFCCC Roster of Experts member and a consultant working with Soon Hun Yang, who founded Eco-Ideal Consulting Sdn Bhd, a local environmental consultancy specialising in carbon advisory services.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.