Citywide Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories

This working paper by the World Resources Institute analyzes the methodological challenges and diverse approaches used to create citywide transportation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventories, emphasizing their role in developing climate action plans and securing funding.

• Transportation is a primary target for emissions reduction strategies, representing 14.3% of global GHG emissions in 2005. In the United States, the sector's impact is more pronounced, accounting for over 33% of total nationwide CO2 emissions in 2008, with urban passenger transport contributing nearly half of those transportation emissions and approximately 15% of total CO2 emissions.
• The results of a citywide transportation emissions inventory can vary significantly based on methodological decisions regarding the boundary of the inventory, the specific trips and emissions included, and the chosen data collection methods.
• There is a wide diversity of methodologies used globally to track urban transportation emissions, ranging from international models like the World Bank Citywide Methodology and the European Commission’s COPERT model to local agency inventories in cities such as Lisbon and San Francisco.
• Transportation GHG inventories are essential for integrating climate policies, such as implementing performance-based federal funding in the US or informing emissions-reduction strategies and applying for Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) financing in the developing world.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Citywide Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories. https://www.wri.org/research/citywide-transportation-greenhouse-gas-emissions-inventories

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Citywide Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/citywide-transportation-greenhouse-gas-emissions-inventories.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Citywide Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories |url=https://www.wri.org/research/citywide-transportation-greenhouse-gas-emissions-inventories |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendcitywide, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Citywide Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/citywide-transportation-greenhouse-gas-emissions-inventories}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }