LiveSmart BC - Carbon Neutral Reporting by Sector

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Carbon Neutral Reporting by Sector

Under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act, since 2008, all public sector organizations have reported annually on their plans and actions taken to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

In 2011, all public sector organizations also reported their total GHG emissions for the calendar year as well as offset investments made to achieve net-zero emissions.

View a summary of the energy conservation achievements from across B.C.’s public sector in the June 2012 report, available below:

Carbon Neutral B.C. - Leading Change & Inspiring Action in B.C.’s Public Sector (PDF/1.1MB)

View individual 2011 Carbon Neutral Action Reports to see the hundreds of actions taken to reduce energy use and GHG emissions and get a sense of the plans going forward:

2011

2011 Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Offset Investment

In 2011, B.C.’s public sector produced a total of 864,040 tonnes CO₂e from all sources covered by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act. Of this total, 88,531 do not require offsetting under regulation.

In order to become carbon neutral for the 2011 calendar year, B.C.’s public sector invested $19,387,725 in 775,509 tonnes CO₂e of carbon offsets from the Pacific Carbon Trust.

GHG Emissions by Sector - 2011 All Sectors GHG Emissions by Source - 2011

Please note that only Core government must report on business travel (local in-town taxi travel is exempt). All reports cover mobile and fleet vehicles, however the following emissions must be reported but are not required to be offset under the Carbon Neutral Regulation of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act: school bus emissions; biomass emissions; BC Transit's public transit bus emissions.

Comparing Performance

As was expected, because of a much colder average temperature in 2011 over 2010, there was an increase in total annual emissions. However, while figures rose 5.9 per cent, it is important to note that when the current emissions data has been normalized for climate variability based on the 30-year climate normal temperature, it is estimated that relative emissions have decreased slightly from 2010 to 2011 -- by as much as 3 per cent.

B.C. Public Sector Emissions Normalised for Climate
2010		2011
Total Emissions	813,044*	Total Emissions	864,040
Emissions for Offsets	728,617*	Emission for Offsets	775,509
Normalized Total Emissions	865,288	Normalized Total Emissions	837,174
Normalized Emissions for Offsets	780,838	Normalized Emissions for Offsets	749,919

2010 – 2011 Emission changes
Total Emissions	+5.9%
Emissions for Offsets	+6.1%

2010 – 2011 Normalized Emission Changes
Total Emissions	-3.4%
Emissions for Offsets	-4.0%

* 2010 public sector emissions numbers used for normalization are based on data from May 2012, which is slightly different from the published 2010 emissions (total emissions 814,149, Emissions for offsets 729,782). This is due to amendments made to the 2010 emissions data.

Previous Years Reports:

2010

2010 Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Offset Investment

In 2010, B.C.’s public sector produced a total of 814,149 tonnes CO₂e from all sources covered by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act. Of this total, 84,367 do not require offsetting under regulation.

In order to become carbon neutral for the 2010 calendar year, B.C.’s public sector invested $18,244,575 in 729,782 tonnes CO₂e of carbon offsets from the Pacific Carbon Trust.

GHG Emissions by Sector - 2010 All Sectors GHG Emissions by Source - 2010