Key Resources for Greenhouse Gas Inventories

For any city or county conducting a greenhouse gas inventory, there are many issues to address. Here are some key resources that can help get you started.

• ILG Whitepaper: Calculating Carbon Emissions
  This Whitepaper provides an overview of the options available, key definitions, and some of the tools you can use to calculate carbon emissions, both in agency operations and in the community as a whole.
• CoolCalifornia.org
  This new one-stop-shop for all Californians, developed by the California Air Resources Board, is filled with quick, easy-to-use and reliable tools that Californians need to save money and reduce their impact on the climate.
• ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
  ICLEI is an association founded in 1990 of 1100 local governments from 67 countries who are committed to sustainable development. ICLEI provides technical consulting, training, and information services to build capacity, share knowledge, and support local government in the implementation of sustainable development at the local level.
• The California Climate Action Registry
  The California Registry serves as a voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) registry to protect and promote early actions to reduce GHG emissions by organizations. The California Registry provides leadership on climate change by developing and promoting credible, accurate, and consistent GHG reporting standards and tools for organizations to measure, monitor, third-party verify and reduce their GHG emissions consistently across industry sectors and geographical borders. The California Climate Action Registry is a private non-profit organization originally formed by the State of California.
• Local Government Protocols for Greenhouse Gas Assessments
  Developed by the California Air Resources Board, the Local Government Operations Protocol is the first in a suite of protocols to assist California cities, counties, and other local government organizations in quantifying their greenhouse gas emissions. It provides the methodologies to inventory baseline greenhouse gas emissions and track progress over time. Additional protocols will be developed to estimate community-scale emissions and quantify greenhouse gas reductions.

The Greenhouse Gas Inventories section of this Web site has other resources that can help, along with examples from a variety of cities and counties throughout California.