2012 Seattle Community Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory

The 2012 Seattle Community Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory finds that core emissions (road transportation, building energy, and waste) declined 4% from 1990 to 2012 after accounting for offsets. While absolute core emissions remained relatively flat, per person core emissions decreased by 22% over the same period, despite a 23% increase in population and a 14% increase in jobs. Road transportation remains the largest core emission source at 64%, while building energy and waste account for 33% and 3% respectively. In an expanded view including industry and air/marine travel, total emissions were 6.0 million tons CO2e in 2012, representing a 1% reduction from 1990 levels, falling short of a 7% reduction target.

• Seattle's core greenhouse gas emissions—comprising road transportation, building energy, and waste—declined by 4% between 1990 and 2012 after accounting for offsets purchased by Seattle City Light.
• On a per person basis, core greenhouse gas emissions in Seattle decreased by 22% from 1990 to 2012 and by 6% from 2008 to 2012.
• In 2012, road transportation was the largest contributor to core emissions at 64%, followed by building energy at 33% and waste at 3%.
• Road transportation emissions increased by 9% from 1990 to 2012, driven by population and economic growth, although vehicle emissions per person declined by 11%.
• Building energy emissions decreased by 15% between 1990 and 2012, attributed to the reduced carbon intensity of Seattle City Light electricity, energy efficiency upgrades, a shift from oil to natural gas for heating, and an increase in multi-family dwellings.
• Waste emissions fell by 22% from 1990 to 2012, resulting from lower waste generation and increased rates of composting and recycling.
• In the expanded inventory view, which includes industry, marine, rail, and air travel, Seattle's total emissions in 2012 were 6.0 million tons CO2e, a 1% reduction from 1990 levels, missing the 7% reduction target.
• The expanded view shows that population and economic growth would have increased emissions by over 1 million metric tons CO2e if not for efficiency improvements and the reduced carbon intensity of the power supply.
• Industrial emissions in the expanded view were influenced by the cement sector, with emissions from cement production decreasing from 417,000 metric tons CO2e in 1990 to 307,000 metric tons CO2e in 2012.
• The use of ozone-depleting substance (ODS) substitutes, primarily hydrofluorocarbons in refrigeration and air-conditioning, led to an emissions increase of 230,000 tons CO2e in the expanded view.

APA

Erickson, P., & Tempest, K. (2014). 2012 Seattle Community Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Seattle-2012-GHG-inventory-report.pdf

Chicago

Erickson, Peter, and Kevin Tempest. 2012 Seattle Community Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2014. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Seattle-2012-GHG-inventory-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Erickson |first1=Peter |last2=Tempest |first2=Kevin |title=2012 Seattle Community Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=April 2014 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Seattle-2012-GHG-inventory-report.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{erickson20142012, author = {Erickson, Peter and Tempest, Kevin}, title = {{2012 Seattle Community Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2014}, month = apr, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Seattle-2012-GHG-inventory-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }