Moore, Jennie --- "Measuring Climate Action in Vancouver: Comparing a City’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Protocol to the Inventory of Consumption" [2012] ELECD 721; in Richardson, J. Benjamin (ed), "Local Climate Change Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Local Climate Change Law

Editor(s): Richardson, J. Benjamin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857937476

Section: Chapter 8

Section Title: Measuring Climate Action in Vancouver: Comparing a City’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Protocol to the Inventory of Consumption

Author(s): Moore, Jennie

Number of pages: 22

Extract:

8. Measuring climate action in
Vancouver: comparing a city's
greenhouse gas emissions inventory
protocol to the inventory of
consumption
Jennie Moore*

1. INTRODUCTION

Many cities, such as Vancouver, Canada, are leading initiatives to mitigate
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While these efforts are to be applauded, it
is also important to objectively quantify the emissions associated with urban
lifestyles, regardless of where the emissions occur. Local government emis-
sions inventory protocols, such as the one that Vancouver uses, limit the scope
to what is produced within the urban boundary. However, the city's inhabitants
drive consumer demands that cause just as many emissions outside the city
limits. It is important, therefore, to objectively quantify such GHG emissions
to assess true sustainability performance.
In 1998, Canada launched the National Climate Change Process1 to prepare
an implementation strategy aimed at meeting the country's Kyoto Protocol
commitments.2 The Protocol, which Canada withdrew from in 2012, had

* This research was funded through a Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions
Fellowship, with support provided through a grant from the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to Prof. William Rees, and a SSHRC Ph.D
Fellowship, a British Columbia Pacific Century Graduate Scholarship, a UBC
Graduate Fellowship. Professors William Rees, Thomas Hutton, Ronald Kellett, Dr
Meidad Kissinger, Cornelia Sussman, Waleed Giratalla, and Ruth Legg provided valu-
able research guidance and assistance.
1 Environment Canada, Canada's Fourth National Report on Climate Change:
Actions to Meet Commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate ...