Greenhouse Gas Accounting and Climate Action

Catalog description

Climate change and the associated impacts represent one of the greatest challenges facing modern society. Accounting for the greenhouse gas emissions that a community or organization is responsible for and setting a plan to address them is an important step toward both mitigation and adaptation to the ongoing effects of climate change. This course focuses on training the student to operate as sustainability professionals for local governments, for-profit businesses, and many other types of organizations. The student will learn the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Inventories developed by the Worlds Resources Institute, C40 Cities, and ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability. This protocol will provide the principles, protocols, and methods needed to complete a greenhouse gas inventory for a community (county, city or other municipality) or organization (NGO, Business, University, etc.). The developed greenhouse gas inventories will be utilized to create a mock climate action plan which addresses the identified emission sources and proposes various measures to meet emission reduction goal targets over time. The student will develop the skills necessary to complete greenhouse gas emissions inventories, develop action plans, and to effectively communicate and present them.