Managing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Cities: The Role of Inventories and Mitigation Action Planning

Abstract

The three main questions that must be addressed in a way to make cities' GHG emission inventories comparable are how to draw the borders, what to measure, and how to measure. Objectives of monitoring and quantifying the GHG effects of mitigation actions vary across cities. The City of Rio de Janeiro is a good example of a city that is taking action to institutionalize the climate change issue, with the Municipal Policy on Climate Change and the Low Carbon City Development Program. This chapter provides an overview of experiences and best practices to help cities design their own roadmap to a climate mitigation policy. It is important to allow comparability among emissions from different studies from different cities and help promote cooperation among them in mitigation and adaptation to climate change.