Metro Vancouver tracks emissions in the region and has recently developed a new tool that improves our understanding of the region’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The consumption-based emission inventory (CBEI) complements Metro Vancouver’s in-region emissions inventory by accounting for emissions that occur outside the region’s geographical boundary, but are associated with goods and services that are consumed within the region. This includes embodied greenhouse gas emissions generated from the production, transportation, use, and disposal of consumable goods like food, building materials and vehicles, or from services that we depend on in the region. Data from the first CBEI shows that accounting for embodied emissions would increase GHG emissions by about 58 per cent over in-region emissions.
A regional consumption-based emissions approach can help Metro Vancouver and others better understand the impacts of regional consumption habits on emissions, inform decarbonization policies, and implement actions in both the Clean Air Plan and the Climate 2050 roadmaps.
