Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories

The Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC) provides a consistent international standard for cities and other subnational entities to account for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Developed by WRI, C40, and ICLEI, the GPC addresses previous inconsistencies in city-level reporting to enable credible comparisons and aggregation at national levels. The framework requires cities to define a geographic boundary and categorize emissions into three scopes: Scope 1 (territorial emissions within the boundary), Scope 2 (grid-supplied energy), and Scope 3 (emissions occurring outside the boundary due to city activities). It offers two reporting approaches: a 'Scopes framework' for total emissions and a 'City-induced framework' (with BASIC and BASIC+ levels) focusing on key emitting sources. The GPC covers six main sectors: stationary energy, transportation, waste, industrial processes and product use (IPPU), agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU), and other Scope 3 emissions. While it does not mandate specific calculation methodologies, it recommends alignment with 2006 IPCC Guidelines and suggests annual inventory updates to track mitigation progress.

• The GPC establishes a standardized framework to resolve inconsistencies in city-level GHG accounting, which previously made comparisons between cities difficult and limited the ability to aggregate data across local, subnational, and national levels.
• The protocol categorizes emissions into three scopes based on location: Scope 1 covers sources within the city boundary, Scope 2 covers grid-supplied electricity, heat, steam, and/or cooling, and Scope 3 covers all other emissions occurring outside the boundary resulting from city activities.
• The GPC utilizes two complementary reporting approaches: the 'Scopes framework', which totals all emissions by scope, and the 'City-induced framework', which totals emissions attributable to activities within the city boundary using either a BASIC or BASIC+ reporting level.
• The 'City-induced framework' offers two levels of reporting: BASIC, which covers stationary energy, transportation, and waste, and BASIC+, which adds emissions from industrial processes and product use (IPPU), agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU), and transboundary transportation.
• GHG emissions are classified into six main sectors: stationary energy, transportation, waste, industrial processes and product use (IPPU), agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU), and other emissions occurring outside the geographic boundary.
• To ensure data consistency and quality, the GPC recommends that cities update their inventories annually and suggests using methodologies aligned with the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
• The protocol allows for the aggregation of multiple city inventories at subnational and national levels by combining Scope 1 (territorial) emissions, provided the inventory boundaries do not overlap geographically.

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} }