Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories

The Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC) is an international accounting and reporting standard developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI), C40, and ICLEI. It provides a consistent framework for cities and subnational entities to measure, track, and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, enabling credible comparisons and the aggregation of local data into national inventories.

• The GPC establishes a standardized framework for GHG accounting to resolve inconsistencies in city-level measurement, which previously hindered comparisons between cities and the aggregation of data across local, subnational, and national levels.
• The protocol requires cities to use two complementary accounting approaches: a 'scopes' framework, which categorizes emissions by where they physically occur, and a 'city-induced' framework, which totals emissions attributable to activities within the city boundary.
• Emissions are categorized into three scopes: Scope 1 (territorial emissions occurring within the city boundary), Scope 2 (emissions from grid-supplied electricity, heat, steam, or cooling used within the boundary), and Scope 3 (emissions occurring outside the boundary as a result of city activities).
• The GPC classifies GHG emissions into six main sectors: Stationary energy, Transportation, Waste, Industrial processes and product use (IPPU), Agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU), and emissions occurring outside the geographic boundary due to city activities.
• The city-induced framework offers two reporting levels: 'BASIC', covering stationary energy, transportation, and waste, and 'BASIC+', which adds IPPU, AFOLU, and transboundary transportation to align with IPCC national reporting requirements.
• To ensure data quality and credibility, the GPC recommends that cities update their inventories annually and establish a management plan for methodology updates, though formal verification is optional.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/global_protocol_for_community_scale_greenhouse_gas_emissions_inventory_executive_summary.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories. n.d. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/global_protocol_for_community_scale_greenhouse_gas_emissions_inventory_executive_summary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories |url=https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/global_protocol_for_community_scale_greenhouse_gas_emissions_inventory_executive_summary.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendglobal, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/global_protocol_for_community_scale_greenhouse_gas_emissions_inventory_executive_summary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }