Journal
JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY
Volume 25, Issue 3, Pages 735-750Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/jiec.13063
Keywords
carbon emissions; carbon footprint; cities; GHG protocols; industrial ecology; low-carbon infrastructure
Categories
Funding
- Australian Research Council [DP0985522, DP130101293, DP190102277, LE160100066]
- Centre for Research on EnergyDemandSolutions (RCUK Energy Program) [EP/R035288/1]
- Children's Investment Fund Foundation
- Research Council of Norway [287690]
- EPSRC [EP/R005052/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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Cities should consider a full Scope 3 of greenhouse gas emissions in addition to Scopes 1 and 2 in order to achieve more effective emission reduction goals.
A major challenge for cities taking action on climate change is assessing and managing the contribution of urban consumption which triggers greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions outside city boundaries. Using a novel method of creating city-level input-output tables, we present the first consistent, large-scale, and global assessment of three-scope GHG inventories for 79 members of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. These inventories cover the emissions from sources located within city boundaries (Scope 1), emissions occurring as a consequence of the use of grid-supplied electricity, heat, steam, and/or cooling (Scope 2), and all other GHG emissions that occur outside the city boundary as a result of activities taking place within the city (Scope 3). We find that, by only accounting for territorial emissions, without Scope 3, the 79 C40 cities under-report 4% of global annual GHG emissions from six key infrastructure-related transboundary sources (73%) and from service-related sectors (27%). In contrast, when only accounting for consumption-based emissions, the C40 cities would miss the mitigation target on 41% of their territorial emissions. We argue that cities should complement their GHG inventories, adding full Scope 3 to Scopes 1 and 2, and develop low-carbon consumption strategies in addition to current infrastructure-focused action on climate change.
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