Salem Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory

Salem, OR | 2019

In 2019, the City of Salem retained Cascadia Partners to prepare a greenhouse gas inventory to accompany the first phase of its Comprehensive Plan, Our Salem Today. Salem’s inaugural GhG inventory provided a snapshot of emissions form human activity within and originating from Salem’s residents, visitors, and employees. Looking ahead, this inventory will allow Salem to track progress toward emissions reductions goals. Most importantly, it represents the City’s first step toward understanding and mitigating its contribution to global climate change.

To complete their analysis, Cascadia Partners utilized the internationally-accepted Global Protocol for Community GhG Emissions Inventories (GPC). In order to make the inventory a compelling policy document, Cascadia went beyond the typical technical report format for GhG inventories and produced a visually engaging, clear, and concise public report that highlighted key emissions sources and provided policy guidance for future inventories and emissions targets.

In order to support the City’s Comprehensive Plan update process, Cascadia also worked to develop climate change indicators using Envision Tomorrow, a suite of scenario planning tools. These indicators allowed the city to measure the GhG impacts of various future growth patterns.