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Charlottesville Emissions Reports
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventories support the work of the Climate Protection Program, established to pursue the City’s commitments to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with its community-wide activities.
Emissions inventories measure and track community-wide greenhouse gas emissions associated with activities within the City of Charlottesville’s jurisdictional boundary. Inventories are compiled according to established reporting protocol standards. Per the City’s Global Covenant of Mayors commitment, data beginning with the 2016 inventory report follow the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories (GPC).
This page includes summary information and downloadable .pdf files of the Charlottesville greenhouse gas inventories and reports. Updates will be released periodically to track emissions and inform policy and program initiatives and strategies.
Note: In response to interest from the community and staff to have inventory data more readily available and easier to share, City staff committed in 2019 to developing process improvements to reduce demands on staff time and to streamline the sharing of data with the public. These efforts have been pursued during 2020 along with the collection of data for years since 2016. These efforts are in their final stages and will be published on this webpage before the end of 2020.
2016 Greenhouse Gas Inventory
The 2016 Greenhouse Gas Inventory completes the requirements for Phase 1 of the Mitigation Track of the Global Covenant of Mayors commitment and was submitted via CDP, one of the approved reporting platforms, in its 2018 reporting cycle.
Per the Global Covenant of Mayors standards, the 2016 inventory was developed according to the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories (GPC). Previous City of Charlottesville inventories were developed according to the U.S. Community Protocols. While a majority of items were required by both protocol standards, there were some differences, such as in the water and wastewater sector. These differences have been noted where they appear.
Considering the upcoming phases of the Global Covenant of Mayors, this inventory document has been developed with the intent of providing data in a simple, clear format that can be utilized easily as an informational resource for analysis and community considerations regarding reduction commitments, reduction strategies and efforts, and resulting achievements.
Download the 2016 Greenhouse Gas Inventory (PDF)
- Release Version 0.1 March 2019
2012 Charlottesville Emissions Report Update
On April 1, 2013, the 2012 Charlottesville Emissions Report Update was presented to City Council. The report includes updated 2000 and 2006 data from the Charlottesville Emissions Baseline Report and adds data for inventory years 2009 and 2011. Comparisons of 2000 and 2011 data provide these indications:
Community Wide
- The three largest community sectors for associated greenhouse gas emissions are Commercial (~26%), Residential (~19%), and Transportation (~17%).
- Since 2000, the Commercial and Residential sectors showed an increase in associated emissions; the Transportation sector showed a reduction.
- Community-wide greenhouse gas emissions increased between 2000 and 2011 by 7%.
Municipal Focus
- The municipal sector contributed 2.7% of the greenhouse gas emissions to the community’s total in 2011.
- Municipal operations* showed a greenhouse gas emissions decrease of 18% between 2000 and 2011.
* Note - Municipal operations includes three areas: (1) facilities operations, (2) streetlights & traffic signals; (3) fleet. - The facilities operations area within the Municipal sector showed a 29.5% reduction of associated greenhouse gas emissions between 2000 and 2011.
Summary Infographic of the 2012 Charlottesville Emissions Report Update
Download the 2012 Charlottesville Emissions Report Infographic Summary (PDF)
Download the 2012 Charlottesville Emissions Report Update (PDF)
Charlottesville Emissions Baseline Report (2008)
The Charlottesville Emissions Baseline Report was released in 2008 and includes data inventories from 2000 (Charlottesville’s first baseline inventory) and 2006.
The City of Charlottesville compiled this greenhouse gas emissions inventory using software tools provided through ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability. This "baseline" is an inventory of the activities within our community that contribute to our greenhouse gas emissions and emissions of criteria air pollutants.
Establishing a baseline enables us to set targets for reducing our emissions and our energy costs in the future. In the year of 2000, Charlottesville was responsible for nearly 900,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. That was enough for about 5 full hot air balloons per person!
Download the 2008 Charlottesville Emissions Baseline Report (PDF)