ABAG Green Communities Program

Program Overview - GHG Emissions Inventories - Energy Efficiency Workshops

Government Operations Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Inventories

In the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area region, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) is managing the program with training provided by ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA (ICLEI). The goal of the program is to assist up to twenty-five local government jurisdictions in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area region in the completion of local government operations greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventories over multiple sectors in accordance with the Local Government Operations Protocol (LGOP) developed in partnership by ICLEI, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), California Climate Action Registry, and The Climate Registry. CARB recognizes that local governments are essential partners in achieving California's goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Many of the proposed measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions rely on local government actions. In the AB32 Scoping Plan, CARB recommends a greenhouse gas reduction goal for local governments of 15 percent below today's levels by 2020 to ensure that their municipal and community-wide emissions match the State's reduction target.

Program Timeframe
ABAG has completed two rounds of projects for this program, in early 2011 and in the summer of 2012. The program paired Graduate-level interns with local governments and resulted in the completion of LGOP and Community Protocol-compliant GHG emissions inventories.

Many Bay Area local governments have completed baseline GHG inventories and at this time PG&E and ABAG are not offering the Green Communities program. Many local governments will be seeking to conduct inventory updates in the next few years. If you are interested in developing a baseline or update GHG inventory using the LGOP or Community Protocol, please contact us using the contact information below to be placed on a list notifying you of future GHG inventory programs.

Contact Information
Please contact Dana Brechwald, ABAG Earthquakes and Hazards Specialist, at DanaB@abag.ca.gov with any questions about this program.