CLIMATE ACTION PLAN - City of Urbana

2.1
OVERVIEW
A. CALCULATION MODELS
In signing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in 2007, Mayor Prussing
signalled the City’s intent to meet or beat Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing the
community’s greenhouse gas emissions footprint. The City is a member of the
International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives’ (ICLEI) Cities for Climate
Protection® (CCP) campaign. ICLEI works in conjunction with the U.S. Conference of
Mayors to track progress and implementation of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection
Agreement.
ICLEI’s Cities for Climate Protection® campaign recommends a five-step process for
inventorying and reducing a community’s greenhouse gas emissions (Figure. 6).
Greenhouse gases are accounted and reported as per a community-scale greenhouse
gas emissions and reporting protocol produced by ICLEI which ensures measurability,
accuracy and reliability. The protocol is specifically designed to be implemented at
a reasonable cost, and produce inventories that can be used to show trends over
time. Each of the 650 member local governments of the Cities for Climate Protection
Program utilizes the emissions reporting protocol ensuring a consistent methodology
for calculating greenhouse gas emissions and allowing for comparisons between
communities.
The ICLEI protocol articulates standardized emissions factors that are used to convert
activity data, like energy usage, into associated greenhouse gas emissions using
greenhouse gas emissions factors (Appendix E). The City of Urbana conducted Urbana’s
greenhouse gas baseline emissions inventory with assistance of the Clean Air and Climate
Protection Software (CACP) and the Climate and Air Pollution Planning Assistant (CAPPA)
- the recommended software to be used along with the protocol to measure and track
the community’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The purpose of the baseline emissions inventory is to determine the levels of greenhouse
gas emissions that Urbana was responsible for in its baseline year. Once completed, the
inventory provides a basis for creating an emissions forecast and setting a reduction
target. The CAPPA software enables the quantification of emissions reductions associated
with implemented and proposed measures. This information enabled the City to prioritize
implementation measures as per their respective suitability for Urbana.
Many other U.S. cities use 1990 as their baseline year, as called for in the U.S. Mayors
Climate Protection Agreement. Because the City of Urbana lacks access to reliable data
extending back before 2007, the Sustainability Advisory Commission chose 2007 as the
baseline year. Urbana’s emissions inventory considers emissions from the following major
sectors:
i. Residential, commercial and industrial building energy consumption;
ii. Transportation fuel consumption;
iii. Solid waste decomposition.
Even though the electricity used by Urbana residents is produced elsewhere, the
emissions associated with it appear in Urbana’s inventory. This is standard emissions
accounting procedure for assigning emissions resulting from energy production.
KEY ACRONYMS
ICLEI
International Council
for Local Environmental
Initiatives
CCP
Cities for Climate
Protection Campaign
CACP
Clear Air and Climate
Protection Software
CAPPA
Climate and Air Pollution
Planning Assistant
www.icleiusa.org
1. Conduct a baseline
emissions inventory and
develop an emissions
forecast.
2. Setting an emissions
reduction target.
3. Developing an action
plan to meet the target.
4. Implement actions in
the plan.
5. Monitor and verify
emissions reduction
progress.
Figure 6.
ICLEI and CCP’s 5 step GHG
Reduction Process
City of Urbana
36