Climate and Energy Action Plan (CEAP)

Ashland GHG Inventory, 2011 - 2015 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body that regularly convenes climate scientists, has identified human activity as the primary cause of the climate change. The IPCC suggests that human-caused emissions must be reduced significantly – perhaps more than 50% globally, and by 90% in wealthier, developed nations – by mid-century in order to avoid the worst potential climate impacts on human economies. The Community GHG Inventory presented in this report follows internationally recognized protocol and accounts for all significant sources of GHG emissions that are supported by locally available data or credible estimation methodologies. This report also includes detailed inventories for City Government Operations (a subset of Community Emissions) and the Municipal Electric Utility’s Supply Portfolio (to provide context about the community’s electricity supply). Additional detail may be found in the following sections of this report. Figure 1 shows the scale of four categories of greenhouse gas emissions for the City of Ashland: Buildings, Transportation, Goods and Food, and City Government Operations. The total emissions associated with these activities comprise Ashland’s 2015 community carbon footprint, which is estimated at about 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MT CO2e). This total represents 0.5% percent of Oregon’s total GHG emissions (~60 million MT CO2e per year1). An average household in the Ashland area has a footprint of approximately 32.5 MT CO2e per year, less than the average Oregon household footprint of 42 MT CO2e. Figure 1: Ashland’s 2015 Total GHG Emissions, by Category. 1 Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (2012). For details visit http://www.oregon.gov/deq/AQ/Pages/Greenhouse-Gas-Inventory-Report.aspx#inventory. Goods and Food 160,000 MT CO2e •Manufacture of goods and food (from inside and outside the region) consumed by Ashland residents •Freight transport of goods and food •Waste management systems Buildings 90,000 MT CO2e •Fossil fuels used to generate electricity consumed in Ashland •Natural gas use by Ashland households and businesses •Refrigerant leakage from air conditioning systems Transportation 80,000 MT CO2e •Passenger vehicles •Local freight •Public transit (buses) •Air travel Household Goods and Food 48% Buildings 27% Transportation 23% City Government Operations 2%