Oregon has pioneered a new and more comprehensive approach to assessing greenhouse gas emissions in order to better track progress toward the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals. This new approach improves – and addresses gaps in– traditional methods of accounting for state emissions, and expands our understanding of how Oregonians contribute to global climate change.
Newly developed data indicates Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions are no longer increasing. This suggests the state may have met its goal to stop growth and begin to reduce emissions by 2010. The 2007 legislature adopted a series of gradual reduction benchmarks. The final reduction target is to achieve a 75 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2050.
To find out whether the state had met its goal for 2010, the Oregon Departments of Environmental Quality, Energy and Transportation developed a comprehensive inventory of emissions that includes in-state emissions, worldwide emissions associated with Oregonians’ consumption, and a broad estimate of emissions associated with travel and freight serving Oregon’s economy.
The recently published inventory of Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions represents the next step in the evolution of greenhouse gas accounting in Oregon. For the first time actual emissions reported to DEQ by electric utilities, fuel suppliers and industrial facilities have been used to better understand our state’s greenhouse gas emissions. Previous estimates have been based largely on models.
The report looks at emissions from three different perspectives:
- Emissions from in-state sources
- Worldwide emissions associated with satisfying Oregonians’ consumption
- An expanded look at the transportation sector
Oregon is perhaps the first state to publish a greenhouse gas inventory using more than one accounting perspective. The greater accuracy and breadth of data provided in this report is an important component to understanding how Oregon contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions. This combined inventory approach offers Oregonians a greater awareness of where emissions come from. Oregon is also one of the first states to estimate global emissions resulting from local consumption.
Other things we’ve learned
- Looking at in-state sources of emissions, use of gasoline (in vehicles) and electricity (by households and businesses) contribute the most to emissions.
- Transportation emissions are important in all three inventories. Household vehicle use dominates, but emissions have declined in recent years. Emissions from freight are growing rapidly.
- Viewed from the perspective of consumption, the purchase and use of vehicles, use of appliances (especially furnaces), and purchase of food contribute almost half of all emissions.
- Looking only at the impacts of Oregon households (not businesses), the purchase of goods like food and other products contributes more to emissions than household purchases of electricity or fuels. Most of these emissions are a result of production, and occur in other states or nations.
http://www.deq.state.or.us
