Climate and Energy Action Plan (CEAP)

8 Communitywide GHG Emission Reduction Target Setting Greenhouse gas emission reduction targets are an important part of climate action planning. Targets hold communities responsible for addressi ng global climate change, and allow communities to track, assess, and compare progress against other communities and jurisdictions. Communities can consider a number of approaches for setting greenhouse gas emission reduction targets:  Peer -based targets can be established that set goals similar to those of peer communities, or of entities of which the community is a part (e.g., State of Oregon). Often these targets are based on those pursued at national or international levels, such the United States’ commi tment to an 80% reduction by 2050 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Paris Agreement.8  Analysis -based targets can be set that reflect analysis of potential emission reductions given achievement of modeled strategies and actions.  Science -based targets set emission reduction targets based on reductions needed to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.9 The target -setting approach taken by a community will depend on a variety of factors, including the community’s’ level of commitment to climate action, available resources, and risk tolerance. Some leading communities have taken very aggressive greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, such as carbon neutrality by 2050 or a 7.6% annual reduction , while others have set goal s to reduce their emissions by 80% or less by 2050 compared to a baseline year . Examples of other targets set by jurisdictions within Oregon are summarized in Table 6 . 8 http://unfccc.int/files/focus/long -term_strategies/application/pdf/mid_century_stra tegy_report -final_red.pdf 9 The 2016 Paris Agreement from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change sets a goal to keep global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre -industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increa se even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Achieving this goal will require aggressive emission reductions.